


Shadow Seekers

by innovatived



Category: Glee RPF, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions, Pokemon Colosseum
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-02
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-27 21:36:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2707622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/innovatived/pseuds/innovatived
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Darren arrives at Lumiose City with Eevee to start his pokémon journey, at the very late age of twenty, he doesn’t expect to meet the most gorgeous man he’s ever seen. Nor does he expect that man to drag him into an adventure that places the fate of the pokémon across the region into their hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Crossover with the game Pokémon Colosseum, also with things from Pokémon X/Y and Pokémon ORAS.
> 
> Written for the Crisscolfer Big Bang! As always thanks to [Robert](http://overcaustically.tumblr.com) for not only reading through it, but putting up with me sending teasers, and general cheerleading since what, last February about this fic?  
> Also thanks to [Mica](http://mikaoru.tumblr.com/) for the gorgeous art work that I am in no way deserving of.
> 
>  
> 
> [(No but really go look at the art *__*)](http://mikaoru.tumblr.com/post/104167824661)
> 
>  
> 
> Last chapter is an Index/Pokédex for your connivence~

Darren trails after his brother, following Chuck into the route just east of their city. It’s still summer, so the heat bears down on him, causing sweat to drip from his curls. He only agreed to come with Chuck because his Mama promised him ice cream later if he did, and because he’s getting big, and big kids get to go on errands, his Mama said.  
Maybe he should rethink wanting to be a big kid if it means going on errands like these all the time.

They’re heading towards the daycare center, he’s not quite sure why they’re going there. And Chuck won’t tell him anything, like, ...ever. His brother has been pretty silent so far the whole walk, trying to evade the tall grass and any chance at a pokémon battle. Darren’s not sure why he’s avoiding battling either, because he has a pokémon. And if Darren had a pokémon, all he’d do is walk in the tall grass and battle wild pokémon.

It’s probably another big kid thing.

They stop outside the center, and Chuck turns to look down at him. “Alright, can you stay out here for a while by yourself? And not get into trouble?”

He nods at Chuck. “Yeah, but why do I’gotta stay out here? Mama told me to ‘sick with you!”

Chuck lets out an annoyed sigh. “Yeah, well, you’re too little to go in.”

“Oh,” he whimpers softly, “I can be good! Pinky swear!” He pleads to his brother, eyes wet with tears.

“No Darren. Out here.”

Wiping a stray tear off his face as Chuck goes into the center, Darren slides down on the grassy ground with a thud. He sits there for a moment, trying to keep himself from full out crying. He doesn’t understand why Chuck always says he’s too little. He’s six! That’s plenty big enough to go inside and run errands. Mama said.

After a moment, he realizes he’s sitting in the middle of the route’s path, and picks himself up to move and sit against a tree. He uses his shirt collar to blow his nose, and then sniffles a little, knowing that Chuck’s going to yell at him later.

There’s no way he’ll ever get the chance to be a big kid.

“Nyah!”

Darren startles, turning to look around his tree and into the forest behind it. “Hello?”

Swoosh.

A black blur comes shooting out from the forest towards Darren, and then all he feels is pain in his right arm. There’s something biting him, a small pokémon he thinks, with brown and white fur. It’s making little growling noises at him.

He makes a whimpering noise, and tries to yank his arm back from the pokémon. That seems to startle it, realizing its bitten something much bigger than itself, and moves to hide inside the hole in the tree right behind it.

The pokémon is still faintly visible inside the hole. Darren glances down at his right arm where he was bitten, there’s definitely blood coming out of the marks. He flexes the wrist, wincing as pain shoots from the bite. The pokémon is still gazing at him from its hole.

That’s when Darren realizes the pokémon must be scared of him.

Stupidly, as his brother would say, he moves his hand to reach into the hole. The pokémon growls again, a warning for Darren to retreat his hand. He doesn’t, letting it hover right inside the hole. It doesn’t move. It just stares at his hand wearily. After a few moments, it stops growling.

The two of them sit like that for a few minutes before Darren’s hand starts to hurt, mostly from the pain of the bite. He starts lowering it towards the ground, and the pokémon starts up its growling again, until Darren’s hand is firmly on the ground, a few inches in front of it.

He doesn’t move it. Wouldn’t even think about reaching closer, just lets it sit there near the pokémon.

“Darren!”

‘Whoops,’ he thinks. He wasn’t supposed to get into any trouble, and now there’s a bite mark on his arm with blood caked around it. Darren pulls his hand slowly away from the pokémon. He doesn’t want to leave it, not when it seems to frightened and scared.

“I’ll come back soon, okay? I promise,” he whispers to it, before standing up and walking back towards Chuck. Really, he didn’t move very far at all from the front door of the centre, just to the tree right at the front corner of the building.

“Darren!” Chuck yells as soon as he spots him. “I told you to stay right there!”

“I was in the way!” 

“Whatever, let’s just go-,” he pauses, and Darren knows he’s seen the blood on his arm. “What did you do?”

“Nothin’,” he murmurs. Chuck grabs his wrist, pulling to stretch his arm out.

“Darren,” he says sternly, “It sure doesn’t look like nothing.”

“I fell, okay?” he yanks his arm back, placing his hand on top of the wound to put pressure on it.

Chuck sighs, gesturing for him to start walking. “Onto what, the two sharpest rocks in Kalos?”

Darren looks down at the ground, never letting his eyes move back up for their entire walk back to Cyllage City.

His Mom screams as soon as he steps in the door, face with concern. It takes an hour for him to calm her down, insisting I’m fine mama, and I just fell, promise. She cleans the dry blood off and bandages him up, ones with little pokéballs on them.

He grins, thinking of the little pokémon he found in the forest. Darren’s pretty sure when he gets his own pokéballs, he wants a pokémon just like that one.

x

Darren finally figures out what kind of pokémon it is a few days later. He’s running errands with Chuck again, sneakers scuffing against the ground harshly as marches in front of his brother.

“Hey Chuck?”

“Yeah?”

“Uhm, so you know, like, all the pokémon ever, right?” He grins back at his older brother. They might not get along all the time, but his brother is the smartest when it comes to pokémon. Darren’s sure of this.

Chuck smiles. “Yeah, all the ones that they’ve discovered so far.”

“Oh,” Darren hums. He keeps forgetting that they haven’t even found all the pokémon yet. “So! Do you know of any that’s like, small-ish and brown and white and really, really fluffy?”

His brother’s face twist into confusion, thinking for a moment. “Yeah, it’s probably an Eevee. Was it mostly brown with white around its neck?”

“Yeah! That must be it! What’s an Eevee?” Darren grins, turning to face Chuck. He’s almost vibrating in his excitement. An Eevee!

Chuck gives him a fond smile. “Careful buddy, don’t want to fall again. Eevee is a normal type pokémon, and its really special. Because Eevee can evolve into one of eight different pokémon.”

“Eight!” Darren stops in the middle of the path. He’s never heard of a pokémon that can do that before. Chuck makes a soft ‘mhmm’ noise in agreement. “Wow! That’s so cool!”

“But,” Chuck starts, “They’re really rare. So don’t go expecting to find one the minute you turn ten. What started this anyways?”

“Oh,” Darren’s face furrows. If they’re so rare, why is there one just in the woods near the daycare center? He wonder if it was someone’s pokémon that got lost, or maybe something happen to it. That makes Darren frown harder, remembering how scared the little Eevee seemed to be. “I saw one in a book at school, and I couldn’t remember the name,” he shrugs. Chuck seems to accept the answer.

“Well, it’s a really great pokémon. Lots of people all of the world search to get one. Us folk in Kalos are lucky. We’re one of the only regions where you can find an Eevee in the wild.”

Darren perks up at that. “So, they are in the wild here?”  
“Yeah, actually they’re usually found on the route north of home. But they’re still pretty rare.”

“Huh.”

They finally reach the daycare building, and Chuck gives him the same lecture as last time. Stay in sight, stay out of trouble. Right.

Hopefully the Eevee decides not to bite him today. He doesn’t know if his family will believe it twice.

He wanders back towards the tree he was at last time, and glances at the hole in the tree beside it. There’s a little white tip sticking out of the hole, attached to a larger, brown tail.

“Eevee!” he whispers harshly. The tail flicks back and forth for a moment before stopping. “Eevee!” He’s a little louder this time. The tail retreats into the hole as the pokémon seemingly wakes up. It turns around to look at him from inside its hole, letting out a little growl.

“Shhh, its me? Remember?” The Eevee stops growling, but its still standing defensively. “Listen Eevee, I brought you some Poké Puffs! I dunno what kind you’d like best, so I grabbed a whole bunch!”

Placing the backpack he brought along with him, under the guise of having toys to play with, he unzips it and takes out the bag of Poké Puff he brought. They’re all a variety of different colors, pink, brown, orange, and green.

The brown one, mocha flavored, seems the obvious choice to start with, since Eevee is brown. He lays one of the brown poképuffs with some sprinkle dustings on top in front of the pokémon, and nudges it towards Eevee. Eevee’s nose pokes out of the hole, sniffing the puff. It takes a small nibble, and then shakes it head. Eevee pushes the puff back towards Darren with its small paw.

Not brown, then.

He pulls out a green one next, which is mint, after picking up the brown one. Placing it in the same spot, he watches as Eevee nibbles on this one too. It makes a noise of contentment, before eating the rest of it happily.

Green, check.

The pink one with green sprinkles is next. He’s pretty sure it just taste sweet. Eevee barely even smells it before pushing it away.

No sweet tooth on this one.

Finally, he takes out the citrus-y orange puff, with a small orange slice on top and places it in front of Eevee. The pokémon takes a whiff of it, and cries out happily. Eevee immediately munches down the whole puff, making a content noise the whole time.

Orange it is.

“Eev?” Eevee sticks her face out a little more, finally letting Darren actually look at it. Its ears are diamond shaped, and perk upwards, twitching happily. Darren takes out another orange puff, placing it in front of Eevee. The pokémon nibbles on it happily.

“Darren?” Chuck’s voice carries from a few yards over by the daycare center.

“Coming!” Eevee startles at this, ear slicking back to rest against its head. “I have to go, okay Eevee? But I’ll come back. Promise.” He takes out the rest of the orange puffs, and places them next to Eevee’s hole in the tree, before grabbing his backpack and heading over to Chuck.

“Did you fall this time?” Chuck questions him as he runs back over.

Darren puffs out his chest indignantly, “No.” His brother reaches down and ruffles his curls, and then they head back home.

x

He continues visiting Eevee on Chuck’s weekly errand run to the daycare center.

The pokémon gets less and less afraid everytime he comes, venturing further outside its little hole in the tree. Darren brings Eevee all sorts of things every week, sometimes more orange Poké Puffs, sometimes a blanket, and sometimes just a bowl of really good pokémon food that his Mama made. He sneaks stuff into his room when he can, to throw under his bed for his trips to visit Eevee.

One week, when Eevee finally comes all the way out of the tree, and Darren finally gets to see the pokémon clearly, he notices a few things. First of all, the pokémon was a little bigger than he’s alway thought. Eevee would probably come up to his knees if he stood up, which really, isn’t saying very much.

Another is that it has a necklace on, silver chain with a tag on the end. Darren’s pretty sure Chuck called them a dogtag once, but doesn’t understand why. He squints his eyes to read the engraving on it, ‘C-I-P-H-E-R’.

“Is that your name?” He asks, pointing his finger at the dogtag. Eevee shakes its head. No, not a name tag then. “Is it your owner’s name?” Another no. “Do you have an owner?”

Eevee pauses for a minute, before shaking its head again. No owner then. Good. That means Darren can catch her when he’s old enough. He can take care of her until then in this little tree.

“Ee!” Eevee butts its head against his hand until he moves it off the ground. Eevee sticks its hand underneath, rubbing back and forth like it wants him to pet it. He scratches at the pokémon’s head gently, and it smiles.

“Oh! Eevee?” He asks. Darren can’t believe he’s been calling the poor pokémon an ‘it’ this whole time, when he could of just asked. “Are you a boy, or are you a girl?” Eevee blinks at him.

Right, yes or no questions for now.

“Eevee, are you a boy?” The pokémon shakes it head.

“So, are you a girl?” Eevee nods, licking at Darren’s hand.

“Got it.”

x

The next week when he approaches the hole, Eevee is nowhere to be found.

“Eevee?”

Darren gets on his knees to look into the hole, sticking his hand into to feel around. The blanket he brought her a few weeks ago is gone too, and that worries him. What if someone caught her? Or what if she did have an owner, and they finally found her?

He can feel the tears threatening to leak from his eyes, but he tries his hardest not to let them fall. Maybe she’s just further back in the woods, exploring, and hasn’t heard him yet?

Mustering up his courage, he starts wandering into the woods. Darren makes sure he can still see the path, and stops when it starts to get far away. “Eevee!”

There’s not a pokémon in sight, and that’s just as scary.

“Eevee!” Why Eevee? Why did something have to happen to Eevee?

A rustling comes from Darren’s left, and he looks over to see Eevee. He gets so excited he runs over to her, but right before getting to her, Darren realizes something is wrong.

She’s thrashing about, making a deep growling noise. Darren’s not sure what to do, so he kneels on the ground, reaching his hand out towards her. “Eevee?” She stops dead still, breathing deeply for a few moments. Darren reaches for her, petting down her side.

Eevee finally stands up, and walks on shaky legs over to him. He wonders how long this has been going on. For a few moments? Or has she been like this since he left last week?

Darren picks her up, cradling her against his chest, making soothing noises.

Its only a few moments before the thrashing returns, but this time Darren is close enough to get hurt. Eevee headbutts him hard under the chin, knocking him flat on his back. He gasps, the tears from early finally start running down his face.

The pokémon is standing on the ground a few feet in front of him, growling deeply again. “Eevee…?” He tries to move towards her, but she growls louder, and he takes the threat for what it is.

Darren’s pretty sure he is full out sobbing now, chest hiccupping with how hurt he is. Not even the actual pain, but he thought Eevee liked him. So why is she attacking him? Most pokémon don’t attack actual humans, especially ones they like.

“Eevee!” he tries again desperately, “What’s wrong with you?”

He scoots back until he hits a tree trunk, sniffling and watching her. Darren’s not sure if he can sit here like this until Chuck gets done. Luckily, he can still see the tree he usually sits by and the path in front of it, so as soon as Chuck comes out he can yell…

There’s a flash of light from in front of him, hovering high up behind Eevee. It startles her, and she whips around to face it, still growling. The light disappears to reveal, what Darren assumes, is a pokémon. It’s two shades of green, light and dark, with the biggest blue eyes. Its not very big either, maybe just a little bigger than Eevee.

“Be!” The pokémon moves down to be at level with Eevee, who still growling at it, but it doesn’t seem to be bothered by the threat. It moves one of its hand towards Eevee, and taps her lightly on the head.

She glows brightly for a second, and Darren almost thinks the other pokémon has caused her to evolve. However, the light breaks, almost as if it shatters, and its still Eevee standing there.

The green pokémon grins, and flies around Eevee in circles happily.

Eevee finally realizes Darren is still sitting behind her, and she turns to face him. Her ears droop, and she slinks over to him. Eevee licks at his hand where it’s laying on the ground in apologize. He smiles, petting her softly on the head. “Hey, its okay Eevee. I promise.”

The other mysterious pokémon flies up to them, hovering right in front of Darren. “Be!” It grins widely, twirling around in a circle. It reaches out with its arm, much like it did to Eevee, and taps Darren on the nose.

Everything turns white, and all he can hear in his ears is buzzing, but it soons fades back to normal. The mysterious pokémon however, is gone.

Darren glances down at Eevee, who’s looking up at him worryingly. “I’m fine Eevee, promise.”

“Darren?” Chuck’s voice calls from the path. He can see his brother standing at the edge of the woods.

“Chuck, I’m right here!” Chuck moves into the forest, and then sprints into a run when his eyes finally land on Darren. He kneels beside him, hands hovering like he doesn’t know where soothe first. “Chuck, I’m fine okay? I fell again.”

His brother looks at him with a raised eyebrow. Chuck starts to say something, but his eyes finally land on Eevee, who’s sitting beside Darren. “Oh. Is that why you’ve been coming with me all this time?” Darren nods. “Well, we’ll just have to take the little guy back home with us, huh?”

“Girl.”

“What?”

“She’s a girl.” Eevee nods in agreement.

Chuck smiles at the pair. “Sorry. We’ll just have to take the little girl home with us, won’t we? If she wants to, that is.”

Eevee nods, before jumping up into Darren’s lap, licking at his face.


	2. Chapter One

Chris swears to himself, that if he ever gets out of this giant sack, he’s going to murder every last person involved in putting him in it.

Starting with the two bozos that threw him in it.

He can still hear them, talking outside the sack. Chris huffs, they’re in the middle of the damn street in Lumiose City. Someone’s going to notice them eventually. He thrashes inside the sack, so that maybe other people will see it moving around. He wishes he could scream, but the the piece of fabric they gagged him with isn’t giving him much room to yell. And the ropes on his wrist are preventing him from removing it. 

“Kid, calm down in there, would ya? What the fuck are we gonna do with him?”

 “I don’t know! Boss just told us to kidnap him, he didn’t say how to get him there!”

 _Fuck_. If he could just get his poké ball outside, he could take care of them in no time. Why did he have to try and play hero? Why couldn’t mind his own damn business for once?

Right, because there was, and still is, something wrong with their pokémon. Really, really wrong.

“Hey! I’m just gonna’ call him, yeah?”

“Good idea!”

 _Idiots_. He got kidnapped by a bunch of idiots.

The other man seems to pick something up off the ground, and Chris realizes it’s his backpack. Fuck.

“Man, look at all this nice shit,” The thug says to himself while his friend is on the phone. Chris can hear him zipping and unzipping the pockets, taking stuff out of the bag and putting it in his own.

“Yeah! Hey boss, so we got the kid. But uh, how are we supposed to get him to you? ...yeah, yeah okay. Can do boss.”

“So, what’d he say?”

“Said to drag him into the alley, and then he’ll come and take care of him.”

The thugs grab each end of the sack, picking it up and moving into the alley. What little light Chris had vanishes when they enter it, and he squirms even more. He shoves and kicks at the fabric, hoping to find an accidental tear or something that he can rip open.

He hits the pavement hard when they toss him onto the ground of they alley. The bruises from this are going to last for weeks. Chris hears another thump land next to him, and he assumes it’s his bag.

“Good thing we gagged the kid, huh?" 

“Yeah really.”

_“Hey!”_

A new voice. Maybe he’ll get out of this thing yet.

x

When Darren decided to finally follow his dreams, it sure didn’t turn out the way he expected. 

Lumiose City was the place to go for starting your pokémon journey. It’s where Professor Sycamore lives, after all. And even though Darren already has his first pokémon, he could still use a Pokédex. Maybe some sound advice too. Because at twenty years old, he’s a little far behind the curve. Most of his school peers are long gone, already settled from their adolescent adventures.

He has Eevee though, his constant companion since he found her at age six. And he has a lot of experience behind him, he wasn’t just sitting on his ass for ten years.

So maybe being in a traveling pokémon theatre troupe isn’t the same as fighting gym leaders and earning badges, but its experience none the less. But that experience alone isn’t going to get him to his dream job, and that’s why he’s starting on his official pokémon journey now by going to the lab.

As soon as he can find a once of the maps.

Lumiose City is large, and even though Darren has visited before on several occasion, he still doesn't remember which avenue is which or if the Professor’s lab is on the north or south side of the city.

He’s standing in one of the avenue, that go towards the center hub of the city, leaning up against a building. Eevee is curled up at his feet, waiting until Darren decides to move. There aren’t any taxis driving around that he could call, and honestly he’d rather not bother a local unless necessary.

“Said to drag him into the alley, and then he’ll come and take care of him.”

_What the fuck?_

Darren turns to look directly across the street. There are two men, not too much older than himself, picking up a body sized bag that is tied at both ends. The bag struggles as it gets picked up, whatever's inside is obviously not happy about it.

The men turn into the alley, and chuck the bag onto the ground with a harsh _thud_. Darren nudges Eevee gently with his foot to wake her up. She blinks, looking up at him, before turning to see what he’s staring at.

“Good thing we gagged the kid, huh?”

“Yeah really.”

And yeah no, he was going to go after them no matter what was in the sack, but a kid?

Darren swallows harshly, before marching across the street and into the alleyway where the men are, with Eevee trailing along behind him.

_“Hey!”_

The men both whip their heads around to stare at him.

“What do you want?" 

“I want you to let whoever’s in the bag, out.” Darren replies.

Both of them start laughing loudly. “What are you gonna do if we don’t, huh? You and your little Eevee ‘gonna beat us up?”

Eevee growls at both of them, which isn’t really helping their cause. She’s adorable when she tries to get angry. “No,” he starts, “But how about a pokémon battle?”

“Yeah? We only do double battles. Got any other pokémon?”

 _Fuck_. That could be a problem.

As much as he’d love to take on both pokémon with just Eevee, it’s almost impossible.

There’s a pop beside the sack, a poké ball opening, before it materializes into a Glaceon. The pokémon shakes itself for a moment, before looking around. It seems to notice the bag, gently touching it with its nose. Glaceon stands there for a moment, not paying any attention to the other three trainers.

He assumes that the pokémon belongs to the trainer inside the bag. It makes a few noises, a sort of one-sided conversation with the person, before hopping over to Darren. It smiles up at with glee. “Glae!”

Darren hopes his assumption that it belongs to the trainer that was kidnapped is right.

“There. Now I have two pokémon.” He grins at the other men.

“Fine!”

Both of the thugs toss a poké ball into the air, landing in front of them. One materializes into a Patrat, and the other, a Bagon.

Glaceon and Eevee both step up in front of him, standing ready. Darren’s fully prepared to use Eevee in a battle, even if its been a long time since they’ve needed to. But he’s not quite sure what he’s supposed to do with Glaceon. Is it going to battle without commands? Or does Darren need to command it? Can he do that?

His answer comes when Glaceon starts the battle.

The pokémon jumps up into the air, surround itself with a layer of ice, before shooting forward at the Bagon. Its trainer barely has time to tell it to dodge, Bagon just manages to step out of Glaceon’s way. It slides down the alley for a moment, before turning around and heading straight back for Bagon.

“Eevee, use Quick Attack on Patrat!”

Eevee rushes forward, disappearing and reappearing in a zigzag pattern from its speed.

“Patrat, dodge and use Bite!”

“Tackle!”

Patrat just manages to miss Eevee’s Quick Attack, but as it goes to Bite her, she slams forward into it. It goes slamming into one of the alley walls, knocked out.

At the same time, Glaceon gracefully slams back into Bagon, and reappears by Darren’s side. Bagon is laying on the ground. It struggles for a moment, trying to sit back up, before ultimately collapsing in defeat.

The two thugs look stunned in defeat, returning their pokémon silently.

“Well gentlemen, I think that’s what we call a match.” Darren grins smugly.

“This isn’t the last you’ll see of us!” One of them yells, before there’s a flash of thick black smoke.

Darren and the pokémon cough for a few moments, and he tries to wave away the smoke with his arm to avalie. It eventually disappears, and the men are gone, but the sack and the person inside it remain.

“Glace!”

Glaceon rushes over to the bag, pawing at it.

“Hold on, I’ve got.” Darren walks over to kneel beside her, Eevee following closely. “Alright, I’m going to cut you out, don’t move too much, okay? I don’t want to cut you.” The person in the bag goes still, which Darren takes as a reply. He takes his pocket knife out of the bag, slicing the ropes at both ends, and slitting down the middle of the fabric.

The person in the bag immediately sits up, and shakes his head.

And that’s when Darren notices several things.

Firstly, that the person in the bag isn’t a kid at all. He looks to be around Darren’s age, maybe a year or two younger.

Secondly, the person might just be the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. 

The man is pale, with a strong jaw line and brown hair that looks like it might of been styled upwards before getting thrown into the sack. His nose is upturned and cute, not to mention those bright blue eyes that glaring at him…

Right. Maybe he should finish helping the man. He ducks his head, blushing, before fumbling around to until the fabric gag around the man’s mouth. The man sputters, coughing out the dryness.

“Thanks,” he manages to get out. Chris finally gets a moment to look at his rescuer. And well, he’s definitely not what Chris was expecting. He’s tanned, with black curls messily styled on his head. His eyes are almost gold, wide with what Chris assumes to be excitement. The man is stunning, and Chris has to duck his head away, before his face covers in a thick red blush.

His musings are interrupted by Glaceon, who has run to the other side of him, and presses up against him with an affection nuzzle.

“I know, Glaceon. Thank you for helping.” Chris smiles at his pokémon, before turning back to Darren. “Would you mind cutting the ropes on my wrist and ankles too, please?” He flexes his hand behind him, trying to tug the rope.

“Yeah, sorry.” He scoots over so he can reach where his wrist are tied behind his back. Darren cuts the ropes gently, trying to do his best to avoid cutting him. When Chris’ wrist are free, he tugs them in front of himself, flexing them and rubbing at the red marks circled around them. They hurt like a bitch. Darren moves down to cut the ropes at his feet, and he untangles his feet, rolling his ankles.

“So…,” Darren begins, “Mind if I ask why, exactly, you were tied up in a sack by those thugs?”

Chris sighs, looking at him. Of course, he’s probably the only one that can see them. “You didn’t see the aura around their pokémon?”

“Uhm, no? They looked pretty okay to me.” Darren blinks at him. There didn’t seem to be anything strange about the other trainer’s pokémon.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Chris brings his knees up his chest, resting his chin on top of them. Glaceon nudges him again, he can feel Glaceon’s voice pressing against his head ‘ _There was something wrong with those pokémon’._

“Yeah, I know. I know.”

Darren looks at them, thoroughly confused. Him and Eevee can communicate well enough, after fourteen years, but they’re still not that good. 

He turns back to face Darren. “So, I saw an aura around their pokémon. It was dark purple, almost black. It was… definitely not good, by any means. I tried to chase the men down, demand answers and everything, but they manage to kidnap me. Apparently I’m a threat because I can see the auras.”

“Oh.”

“Thank you, for helping me by the way. I’m Chris, Chris Colfer.”

Darren grins at him. “Nice to meet you, Chris. I’m Darren Criss.” He offers his hand out to shake, and Chris accepts it. His fingers are soft and smooth against Darren’s rough calluses. They’re warm too, and Darren feels an unexpected rush of heat through his at the touch. He almost stutters out his next words from the surprising feeling. “I-it was no problem. Well, it was almost a problem, and then you sent Glaceon out.”

Glaceon puffs out its chest proudly beside Chris, making them both laugh. “Yeah, he’s pretty great isn’t he? And I heard you had an Eevee?”

He glances over, noticing a little puff of white sticking out from behind Darren. “Sorry,” Darren starts, “she’s kind of shy around new people.” He reaches behind him to place a hand on Eevee, petting her head gently. The pokémon makes a small mewing noise, before ducking even further behind Darren.

“Its fine,” Chris shrugs. He looks at Glaceon for a moment, considering his option. He needs to know what that aura was and why it was affecting those pokémon. Not to mention the weird attacks they were using against Darren and his Eevee. But, if they really all are double battlers, him and Glaceon are screwed.

‘ _Darren_!’ Glaceon’s voice presses against his head.

“Maybe,” he murmurs back in reply. He doesn’t really have a good track record of making friends, let alone any kind of romance, and he doesn't want to force Darren into something and make him hate Chris. Then again, if he leaves without Darren, he’ll probably never see him again, and that seems like a tragedy all on its own. Chris turns back to the other man, making the decision of leaving it up to Darren. “Well, it was nice meeting you. And thanks again for rescuing me. I, uh, I need to go figure out what with those auras.” He stands up, brushing the dust off his pants. Glaceon gives him a confused look.

Darren stands up as well, looking at him in confusion. “Wait, don’t you only have one pokémon? How are you going to battle them?”

Chris shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know. But I can’t just let those men get away with it.”

Darren seems to contemplate something for a moment, glancing down at Eevee, who is still hiding behind his feet. He could offer to go with Chris, but that would delay his journey even longer. Then again, it could be even better than going off hunting badges. Plus, he doesn’t really want to leave Chris for some reason. There’s something about him that makes Darren want to keep him near, other than his obvious attraction for Chris.

“Can I go with you?”

As soon as the words tumble out of his mouth, Eevee makes a startled noise of protest behind him. Darren knew she wouldn’t be too happy about it, with her being weary of strangers and all. But he has to do this.

Chris turns to him in surprise. He didn’t actually expect Darren to come along with him. “Why?" 

What he really wants to say is somewhere along the lines of ‘ _You’re quite attractive and I don’t think I’m ready to let you go yet_ ,’ but he decides maybe that’s not the best explanation. “Because I don’t really want you to get kidnapped in a sack again, and because if what you’re saying about the auras is true I want to help.” He fumbles through his explanation.

“Oh,” Chris looks down at Glaceon, blushing fiercely. The pokémon gives him a very ‘I told you so’ look, before grinning happily at Darren. “Well, it can’t hurt, right?”

Darren grins as Chris picks his bag up off the ground. Darren has to bite his lip from commenting on how cute Chris looks when he’s blushing. Chris opens the bag to dig through it briefly, knowing the two idiots had been going through it earlier while he was still tied in the bag. “Bastards,” he lets out after a moment.

“What?” 

“They took all of my damn healing potions and stuff. Left my poké balls and my map though.” He sighs, clipping the bag back up before throwing it over his shoulder. He starts to walk out of the alleyway, Glaceon trailing after him.

Darren picks up Eevee and places her inside his own backpack, letting her head stick up, before pulling it over his shoulders. She gives him a look, the one he knows as ‘ _You’re a fucking idiot and I don’t know why I still grace you with my presence_ ’, but he just replies with a huff.

He moves up to walk beside Chris, whose stopped next to a signpost with the map of Lumiose City on it. “So, where are we going, exactly?”

“Mayor’s house,” Chris breathes out, staring intently at the map, “As soon as I figure out where that is.”

“Oh! It’s on the north side of the city, right here,” Darren points out the a large building on the map, “It’s a giant high-rise. But why there?” He hates that he knows where the Mayor’s house is, but couldn’t find the damn Professor’s lab earlier. But, he supposes, if he would have been able to find the Lab, he wouldn’t of found Chris. 

“Oh, figured he’d want to know what was happening. So you’ve been here before?” Chris turns to him, looking inquisitively. The Mayor’s house certainly isn’t a main attraction in a city of this scale. Chris is pretty sure he didn’t even know there was a Mayor until he happened to glance at a plaque saying ‘The Mayor of Lumiose City welcomes you!’ on the side of a building.

Darren nods. “Yeah, came here a lot of times when I was traveling. We had to go to the Mayor’s house once.” Darren’s not really sure if he wants to diverge why exactly he was traveling. Some people think very lowly of the traveling theatre troupe he spent most of his teen years with, and how else can he explained that he performed for the Mayor on several occasions?

“Well, lead the way then,” Chris gestures his hand out. Darren starts walking in the direction, and Chris moves to walk beside him. “You said you were traveling, so did you already go on your pokémon journey?”

“Uh, no. Actually, that’s why I was here today. Meant to meet up with Sycamore to get a pokedex and all.”

“Huh,” Chris lets out. He realizes Darren must not want to talk about whatever he did to travel through the city so many times, so he lets it go.

“Have you gone on a journey yet?” Darren questions him. He figures Chris probably has, because they’re similar in age.

“No,” Chris replies, just as Darren did, and they leave it at that.

x

When they finally approach the building, Chris feels like it should be more significant. But the building is just like every other high--rise in the city, decorated out front with flower planters and a blue awning that reads “Mayor’s Building”.

Darren gestures towards the door, walking right up and into the building. Chris follows closely behind him, trying to take everything in. Right inside, there’s a large front desk with a bored looking woman sitting behind it. She looks up at them, quickly judging them by their clothing choices, and deciding they aren’t worth her time as she looks back down at the desk.

“Uh, excuse me miss,” Darren starts, leaning up against the desk, “I was wondering if we can speak with the Mayor?” Chris almost laughs at how ridiculous Darren sounds. Does he honestly think this kind of stuff works on normal people?

“Do you have an appointment?” She drones back at him, typing on her computer without even glancing at Darren.

“No, but this is very impor-,” he tries to charm her, eyes wide and voice sweet. He knows it doesn’t take to convince people to give him what he wants, but she’s unfortunately not watching him. 

“No appointment, no talking with the Mayor.” She interrupts him. Chris has to hold in another giggle at Darren’s stunned face. He turns to Chris with a pathetic looking frown. Chris has to admit it’s cute in it’s own way, but right now they have bigger problems.

He sighs, afraid of this happening. He places his hand on Darren’s shoulder, trying to pull him back. “Let’s just go, we can see if Sycamore knows anything about the auras.”

“Aura, you said?” The woman perks up, looking at them both know with curiosity. Chris frowns at her, something about her sudden chipperness worries him.

“Yes,” Darren begins, “Chris here saw a shadow-like aura around some trainers pokémon earlier today.”  He gestures to Chris behind him.

“Well, you should've mentioned that before! I’ll let him know to expect you immediately. Just go to the top floor, that’s where his office is.” She waves them off, pressing a button on the switch beside her.

“Cool, thanks!” Darren waves. Chris walks past him, tight lipped, and Darren follows him into one of the empty elevators a few feet from the desk. “Well, that was pretty easy.”

“Too easy, if you ask me. Something must be happening if she seemed intrigued by the auras,” He presses the button for the top floor, and elevator door shuts as it begins moving up. Chris looks down at Glaceon, who seems to be thinking the same thing. Something isn’t right.

Darren glances at both of them, noticing their unease. Chris is tense, arms drawn against his chest and eyes focusing on the floor of the elevator. Darren watches him, trying to think of what he can say to make him relax. “I’m sure we’ll be fine, we’re in the Mayor’s office, what’s the worse that could happen?”

Apparently, it wasn’t the correct choice, because Chris just shakes his head, “You have no idea.”

The elevator opens, and they step out onto the top floor. It’s just a small room with a grand door directly in front of them, with a sign reading ‘Mayor’s office’. Darren approaches the door, rapping on it harshly. The sound echoes throughout the room in an eerie way.

There’s shuffling from inside the room, a murmur of voices, before the door flies opens. The two of them and Glaceon walk inside, and Chris only has time to notice the desk in front of him is empty before the door is slammed shut behind them.

He whips his head around to see a young man standing in front of the door, in a bright orange outfit and black sunglasses. “Team Flare?” He asks curiously. He can feel Darren’s eyes staring at him blankly.

“Almost correct. Its only partially Team Flare,” a deeper voice comes from behind. They turn together to face the voice. The voice is coming from a very tall and lanky man, who is now sitting in the Mayor’s chair. He has a very large afro, colored red and white like a poké ball, and an almost disco-esque yellow outfit. “And you two just walked right into our trap.”

“Trap?” Darren questions. He doesn’t understand, he thought Team Flare was just a rumor used to scare new trainers.

The man looks over to his left, and for the first time, the boys see the Mayor. He’s tied up to a chair, arms and legs bound by rope, and mouth covered with a piece of cloth. His eyes are wide in panic, looking in desperation at Chris and Darren.

“What did you do to him!” Darren exclaims, starting to walk towards the large man in the desk. He can feel Eevee poke her head out of his backpack, looking over Darren’s shoulder, and she makes a startled noise at the scene in front of them. 

“Ah, yes. Nothing, yet. You see, it’s not the Mayor we really want. It’s him,” The man drawls out, pointing towards Chris.

“Chris?”

“Me?”

They look at each other in surprise, before turning back to the man. Glaceon makes a noise of disagreement as well, ears pinned back against his head.

“Yes, you Chris. You see, your little-uh, ability to see the auras is, how should I put this? Detrimental to our plans. So, you must be removed from the equation so you don’t go running your mouth, just as your were about to do.” The man rises up from the chair and places one hand on the desk, leaning on it. “Folly, Trudley, take care of them.” He flicks his other hand in the direction of Chris and Darren.

Two men stalk over from the edge of the room, where they hadn’t noticed them before. It takes a moment before Darren recognizes them as the men who had originally kidnapped Chris, and he feels the utmost need to slam those two into next week.

“You two again?” He gruffs out angrily. Chris looks over at him in surprise, not recognizing them. “They’re the ones who threw you into the sack.” Chris’ mouth drops into an ‘o’ shape, before his mouth turns down angrily. He glares at the two thugs, and Darren watches as he presses the thumb of his one hand against the red welts on his other wrist automatically, as if remembering what they did to him.

“Yeah! And we’ll do it again too!” One of them snarks back.

Glaceon growls at them, moving to stand in front of Chris. It’s a brief moment before Eevee jumps off Darren’s shoulders to do the same. The opposing men look on at the pokémon, before letting out a large laugh.

“You might of beat us last time with those wimpy pokémon, but there’s no way you’ll beat us now!"

“Yeah, boss man gave us all new pokémon to beat’ ya with!”

They both toss a poké ball out in front of them gleefully. It takes a moment for the pokémon to materialize, before revealing a Flaaffy and a Gulpin.

Chris notices immediately the thick, purple and black aura surrounding Flaaffy. “Darren, Flaaffy has an aura.”

Darren nods, looking at the pink pokémon. It doesn’t look different to him, the same regular looking Flaaffy he’s been seeing in books and pictures for years.

“Flaaffy, Shadow Rush!” One of the thugs calls out. And well, that’s different. It’s definitely not a move Darren’s ever heard of before. Flaaffy charges forwards towards Eevee, and Chris can see the aura flare around it. Darren doesn’t have enough time to give a command before Flaaffy slams into Eevee, sending her flying across the room. She stands back up on wobbly feet, giving out a small cry.

“Glaceon! Go, Ice Beam on Gulpin!”

Glaceon cries out, before letting out a large jolt of blue towards Gulpin. The opposing pokémon doesn’t have time to move, so it gets hit full on with the attack. The pokémon sways for a moment, before sinking into the ground in defeat.

“What the fuck?” The Gulpin’s trainer exclaims angrily, returning the pokémon back into its ball.

“Nice job Glaceon!” Chris calls out. Glaceon jumps for a moment in cheer, before both trainer and pokémon focus their attention back on Eevee and Flaaffy.

“Eevee, try using Shadow Ball!” 

Eevee shakes itself off, before charging up a dark purple ball in front of its face. 

“Flaaffy, Shadow Bolt!” Chris watches warily, the moves they’re using seem to be focused on the pokémon’s aura, making it stronger than a normal attack. Flaaffy lets out a cry before a charge of black electricity gets sent towards Eevee. Eevee, who was still charging her attack, gets hit with the attack. She stumbles backwards, before collapsing onto the ground.

“Eevee!” Darren yells in shock, running up to his fainted pokémon. He’s terrified, because they’ve never really done very much battling, so she’s never really fainted before. Eevee opens her eyes, and blinks at him, letting out a soft mew. He realizes she’s alright for now, he just needs to get her back to a pokémon Center soon.

Chris’ face is wide in alarm, worry etched across his face. Darren can’t tell if Chris is worried about him or Eevee, or both.

Darren gives him a reassuring nod to finish off the battle. Chris turns back to Glaceon. “Alright Glaceon, let’s go. Use Iron Tail!”

Glaceon’s tail turns white as he jumps up into the air.

‘Flaaffy, Shadow Bolt again!”

Just as Glaceon’s tail lands on Flaaffy, it releases its bolt of electricity. The Iron Tail moves sends Flaaffy into the ground, but its move sends Glaceon flying back towards Chris. It only takes a brief moment for Flaaffy to regain its senses and stand back up on its feet. Glaceon, however, is still on the ground.

“Finish it Flaaffy, Shadow Rush!”

As Chris watches in fear as the pokémon’s aura begins to whip up, the door behind them slams open. A poké ball is thrown from behind Chris, and slams against Flaaffy. Flaaffy goes inside the ball, and it lands on the ground. Chris watches in curiosity as the poké ball wiggles, like a normal wild pokémon capture. When the light finally dims, signifying its capture, he glances back towards the door.

Chris and Darren stand in shock. They’ve always been told about the impossibility of capturing another trainer’s pokémon.

They both look back, and see a man with stylish black hair and a lab coat, with a machine that runs down the length of his arm and over his hand. He looks familiar, as if Chris has seen photos of him before. The man uses the surprise of everyone in the room to retrieve the poké ball. He then glances both at Chris and Darren, before returning his gaze to the man still seated behind the desk.

“Professor Sycamore?” Darren questions in quiet awe. And _oh_. That would be why Chris recognizes him.

Darren looks up at Sycamore owlishly. Sycamore nods. “At your service. Now, I advise both of you to return to my lab immediately.”

“What? Professor, we’re not going to leave you here!” Darren exclaims. He stands up, Eevee still cradled in his arms.

The man at the desk stands up, his full height towering over all of them. “Have them run wherever you like dearest Professor, Cipher has the entire city on lock down. That boy isn’t ever leaving this city,” he motions to Chris again.

Chris swallows thickly, he returns Glaceon on to his poké ball, before wrapping his arms around himself. His face pales and his eyes widen in fear. Darren looks over at him with worry. He makes the decision right there to do whatever it takes to keep that look off of Chris’ face for good.

“Let’s go boys!” The man at the desk exclaims.

There’s a bright flash, and the room fills with thick smoke, causing them all to cough heavily. When the smoke finally clears away, the man behind the desk, the thugs, and the Mayor are all gone.

“Damnit,” Sycamore lets out under his breath.

Chris looks over to see Darren, still holding Eevee tightly to his chest. The small pokémon is letting out little wheezes, and he looks over to Sycamore in concern. “Professor, we have to get Eevee to the pokémon Center, now.” He tries to keep his voice stern.

Darren looks over at him gratefully. He uses one of his hands to stroke the top of Eevee’s head in soothing motions.

“Right,” Sycamore starts, “We can heal her at my lab. It’s closer, and safer anyways. I’ll explain everything to you then.” He motions for them to follow him, and with one last glance at each other, Chris and Darren follow after him.

x

Their journey to the lab is brief, and fairly uneventful. Darren and Chris stick close together, behind Sycamore, afraid at every turn someone is going to come after them. But no one does, and seemingly the only time they even see anyone suspicious is when they pass by one of the exits of the city. There’s a person standing at the gate in all red, questioning everyone who tries to leave.

Sycamore motions them inside his giant lab quickly, locking the front door shut behind them. They don’t even get a chance to look around before he’s leading them upstairs.

The upstairs room seems to just be a giant square room, machines and cabinets lining some of the walls, and tables filled with random objects against others. In the middle of the room is a large table, with ample seating around it. At one corner of the table, there’s tall and wide-shouldered man sitting in the chair. He has bright orange hair matted and messed up, and a shredded black and orange colored uniform.

“Found him.” Sycamore says to the man as he approaches the table. Chris and Darren are still standing by the entryway, watching with curiosity. 

Darren brings Eevee tighter against his chest, staring at the other man with doubt. Chris goes to move forward towards the table, but Darren shoots a hand out to stop him. He isn’t letting Chris anywhere near that man without an explanation. He honestly can’t believe the Professor would have a man like him inside his lab. “Professor, why are you harbouring the leader of Team Flare in your lab?”

Chris turns to him surprise when Darren’s hand smacks against his chest to stop him. Surely Darren must be mistaken, right? This man can’t be Lysandre, the great leader of the criminal organization Team Flare. Not with the way his hair, and the rips in his uniform.

Sycamore sighs, beginning to remove the machine on his arm. “Because he’s no longer the leader of Team Flare.”

“What?” Chris exclaims.

“Am I going to have to explain all of this from across the room?” Sycamore grumbles, placing the machine down on the table.

“Yes,” Darren grunts out. He’s heard horror stories, from years of growing up with his brother and then even worse stories from the people in his troupe about this man. They’re not going anywhere near him until he gets an explanation.

The other man lets out a small laugh. “I can give the explanation myself, Augustine.” The Professor glares at him, before taking the machine over to one of the tables on the wall. He places it beside an almost replica of itself that was already on the table. “Yes, I am Lysandre. And yes, I was once Team Flare’s leader. But I am no longer. The criminal organization Cipher asked us to help them, and I agreed. They promised to help us in return. But they stole my own pokémon, and turned my members against me.”

Darren’s shoulders drooped. Lysandre was no threat without his pokémon and his members. “That still doesn’t explain why you’re here.”

Sycamore motions them over to where he is standing next to one of the healing machines commonly found in a pokémon Center. They moves over towards him, Darren returning Eevee into her poké ball. He sets the ball onto the machine, and Chris sets Glaceon’s down as well. Sycamore presses the button. It makes the same soothing noise it always does, the ball flashing with the rhythm, before stopping. Sycamore hands both back their poké balls.

“Lysandre and I go way back. We were friends before he got involved in the criminal organization, and I’m still his friend now. He has nowhere else to go, with members of his own team and Cipher looking for him.”

“Who exactly is Cipher?” Chris questions, walking over to the table where Lysandre is sitting. Chris sits diagonal from him, still a little weary. He lets Glaceon out of his poké ball, knowing he detest it. Glaceon proceeds to curl up against his feet, recognizing that they might be there for a while. Darren and Sycamore move back over to them. Darren pulls out the seat next to Chris, and plops down in it with a thud. Sycamore stands beside the table.

“Cipher is the team we faced just now. They’re a team from the desert region of Orre. Mirror B is currently in charge, and that is the man you faced today.”

“Oh,” Chris lets out a breath. “And they want me because I can see the auras on their pokémon?”  

“Yes. They were notorious in Orre for creating something called shadow pokémon, which are the auras you can see.” Sycamore moves to sit in front of Chris, looking at him directly. “Shadow pokémon are created when they shut down their heart, or their emotions. It makes them an emotionless fighting machines, capable of greater power than normal pokémon.

Darren smacks his hands onto the table in disgust. “How the fuck can people do something like that? And how do we stop it?” 

The Professor shakes his head. “I wish I knew, kid. The pokémon can be cured, through affection and friendship. Eventually, they need to go through something called purification, and it will open their heart chamber again, restoring the pokémon to its original state.  Being a shadow pokémon is also what causes them to have the shadow-like aura, visible only to certain trainers with psychic abilities. That’s about all the information I’ve been able to gather since Lysandre showed up earlier. 

“Right,” Lysandre says. He reaches into his bag, and pulls out a tattered journal. “This, and those machines,” he motions towards the arm machine Sycamore was wearing earlier, “are the only things I manage to take before they kicked me out of Team Flare’s hideout.” He slides the journal across to Darren.

Chris narrows his eyes at Sycamore. Why did he have to point out that Chris was a psychic? Doesn’t he know how much of a stigma that comes with? It’s bad enough to be in this situation in the first place, and now he’s going to lose Darren from Sycamore blurting out information. He’s never going to go anywhere with Chris now that he knows Chris is a psychic.

Darren’s mind is racing a thousand miles an hour. There’s so much he doesn’t know, and so much Sycamore and Lysandre don’t seem to know either. He glances over at Chris, who seems to be a similar situation. Finally, Darren registers some of the words Sycamore said about people who can notice auras. 

“Wait, psychics? You’re a psychic, Chris?” Darren’s eyes narrow, it seems an odd fit. Most psychics obviously have psychic or ghost pokémon, that can communicate with them easier. Not an ice type like Glaceon.

Chris lets out an angry huff, glaring at Darren. “Not really. I’m what they like to call, an empathic psychic. I can’t do telekinesis or anything like that. i just have a strong bond with pokémon.” Chris keeps his voice sharp. He knew this was coming. All psychics are assumed to be known for their eccentricity and oddities, even though he is not that kind of psychic. “And apparently, this bond lets me see auras.”

Darren shrinks back, realizing his mistake too late. “Sorry,’ he murmurs. He doesn’t understand why Chris was so fast to shut down his question. Being able to understand his pokémon must be an amazing talent.

“Anyways,” Lysandre glances between the two of them curiously, “That journal is from the empathic psychic who helped take down Cipher several years ago in Orre. She, nor the man who ultimately destroyed them, have been seen since. But I assume it has useful information regarding the care of shadow pokémon.”

“And what about those machines?” Chris questioned. He was curious about them, knowing Sycamore had one on earlier when he stole the Flaaffy from those thugs.

“The machines,” Sycamore replies, “are called snag machines. Now, as far as I’m aware, they weren’t created by Cipher, but another team that roamed Orre. They give any poké ball in your hand the ability to capture a pokémon already owned by another trainer. This gives us the ability to take back shadow pokémon in order to cure them. They were originally given to Team Flare to take other trainer’s pokémon and give them to Cipher to turn into shadow pokémon”

Darren looks over at the machines, and then back to Sycamore, asking the one question that has been on his mind since they got here. “So why are you telling us all this? Why not move Chris to a safe place while you all take care of this?”

“Because Chris is the only one who can see the auras, there aren’t any other empathetic psychics in Kalos., meaning he has to be one of the ones to stop this. We can’t confirm anything about these pokémon. Not to mention, the bond you both have with your own pokémon gives us hope that you would be able to open the hearts of shadow pokémon over time, and save.”

Chris’ hands clench up where they’re resting on the table, and Darren feels the urge to cover them up with his own. He was afraid of this as well. This, aura seeing ability he’s been cursed with makes him the key, so to speak. Chris knows he can either do what Sycamore is asking of him, risking his life anyways, or get captured by Cipher. And all by himself, since he’s sure Darren won’t come with him anymore. 

“You’re saying-g, the fate of all these pokémon is on-n me?” Chris stutters out, “B-because I can see this aura? How is that fair? Do you honestly believe I can stop them? Because I don’t.” By the end of his rant, he’s angry, face turning red and words having a fire to them. He knows he’s not nearly good enough for this. Hell, he would still be tied in a sack if it wasn’t for Darren rescuing him earlier. Glaceon perks up beside him, sitting up and nudging at his knees. Chris knows Glaceon is trying to reassure him, but it only reminds him of how he let Glaceon get hurt earlier.

Darren gives into his urges, covering up Chris’ closer hand with his own. Chris looks up at him, like a Deerling in headlights. “I’m not going to let you do this on your own. You’re stuck with me. And besides, we make a pretty damn good team, I think.” Chris lets out a choked up laugh at that, nodding slightly. He supposes that’s true. But more-so, he’s surprised that Darren still wants to go with him. 

Didn’t he hear that part about him being a psychic?

“And us,” Sycamore says, “We might not be able to go out and actually help you fight, but we’ll be able to communicate with you through other means.”

Chris looks over at Darren, who’s giving him a bright and mischievous grin, before turning back to Sycamore. 

“So what do we need to do?”

Sycamore takes a poké ball out of his belt, handing it to Darren. “First off, take this. It’s the Flaaffy I caught earlier, and it won’t do it any good to stay here with me. It’s much better off in one of your hands.”

Darren rubs his thumb over the poké ball, glancing over at Chris. “Do you want her?" 

Chris shakes his head. “No, I think you should keep Flaaffy.” Darren nods, pocketing the ball. He realizes then that his hand is still lying on top of Chris’, and he blushes. He hopes Chris doesn’t realize it, because he honestly doesn’t want to move his hand away. It feels nice, like it’s where it’s suppose to be.

“Next, you both take one of those snag machines. And capture as many shadow pokémon as humanly possible. As usual, if you end up with more than six pokémon, they’ll come here and stay at my lab until you need to switch them out.” He walks over to retrieve the machines, and places them on the table in front of Chris and Darren. “Take that journal, and read it. Hopefully it will have more information on shadow pokémon, and how exactly to purify them. 

Chris nods at that, taking the journal from in front of Darren, and sliding it into his messenger bag.

“Head to Shalor City. It’s west of here, through Coumarine City, and you’ll have to beat one of the people guarding the gates of the CIty. But Cipher is taking over the Tower of Mastery in Shalour as we speak. I think they’re trying to harness Mega evolutions, making it so that pokémon are stuck in that state permanently,” Lysandre says.

Sycamore hums in agreement. “Yes, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea for the two of you to speak to the current Mega evolution Guru if you can, to learn to harness Mega evolutions as well.”

“Right,” Darren breathes out. Mega evolving is still a fairly new concept, and he’s not really sure what it entails. He turns to Chris, squeezing his hand gently.

Chris, who didn’t even remember Darren’s hand was on his, startles a little. His face flushes red in embarrassment, but he doesn’t move his hand from underneath Darren’s.

Maybe going on this long winded journey with Darren wasn’t such a good idea.

He looks back over to Sycamore. “Shalour City, master mega evolutions, and stop Cipher before they can harness Mega evolution for evil. Sounds like a walk through the park,” he muses. Darren looks over and grins at him, but Chris can tell he’s excited. His eyes are burning with the need for something, Chris thinks. Adventure, maybe?

Sycamore gives him a sad smile. “We never said it was going to be easy.”

“We’ll manage, right Chris?” Darren turns back towards him. Chris gives him a weary nod of agreement.

“Alright, then I think you’re almost ready to go,” Sycamore turns to walk away from their table, over to one of the tables lining the wall. He grabs two bags off the wall, and the snag machines off the table, before walking back towards them. “Here,” he places the bags in front of them, “These are supplies I usually give new trainers on their journey. Holo Casters to communicate, a Pokédex, some poké balls, and a few potions.”

Chris grabs the bag, shuffling through everything. He takes the items out of the bag, and sorts them into the one he already has. Darren decides to do the same, there’s no need for him to have two bags. “Thank you,” he nods towards Sycamore.

“And these,” he hands a snag machine to both Chris and Darren. Darren pulls his hand away from Chris’ with a frown, hooking the machine onto his left arm. He adjust the shoulder pad to fit correctly. and strapping the wires around his arm. Darren removes his fingerless glove from his left hand, slipping into the machine’s built in glove. The glove feels just like any normal glove, and not as if it were a machine. It moves with his hand as he flexes it for a few moments, before turning to Chris.

Chris has strapped on his machine as well, and he’s staring at his hand, which is now inside the machine’s glove. He’s excited, but he knows Chris is very obviously not. He tries to concentrate on how beautiful Chris looks, instead of how nervous he looks. “Ready?”

Chris startles a little, eyes flicking over to Darren.

“Yeah.”

x

Chris glances down at Glaceon as soon as they step out of the lab. His ears are alert, eyes trained on Chris, and very obviously nervous about the journey they’re going to embark on. Chris can feel the nerves radiating off of him, and the ‘ _I don’t know if I’m ready for this_ ,’ pressing against his head from Glaceon.

“You’ll be fine. We both will be.” Chris smiles at his pokémon, who seems to calm down a little at the reassurance. Chris turns towards Darren, who’s watching them with a smile. Eevee is sitting at Darren’s feet, watching as well. The snag machine running down Darren’s arm surprises him at first, Chris had almost forgotten about them. The wires stand out against Darren’s skin and clothing, bright red and blue trailing down from the silver shoulder pad all the way to the matching silver fingerless glove on his right hand.

“C’mon,” Darren says, motioning for them to start moving.

Chris pulls his zip-up jacket’s hood over his head, trying to keep the random members of Cipher and Flare that are wandering the city from recognizing him.

The four of them moves towards the west exit, an archway with the number ‘13’ above it. Right in the middle of the exit however, stands a man with his arms crossed over his chest He has blue clothing, and obnoxious mirrored aviators.

The boys both pause, glancing at each other. Darren’s nervous, him and Eevee didn’t fare very well in their last battle, and he’s terrified of letting Chris down. Or even worse, being the reason Chris gets kidnapped again.

He feels something brush his shoulder, and looks over to see Chris’ hand touching him gently.

“Hey, where did all that enthusiasm for this adventure go from earlier?”

“Sorry. It’s just…,” he pauses, debating on whether or not to explain his battling nerves, “Nothing. I’m fine. Let’s go.” He starts walking towards the man at the gate.

Chris watches him for a moment, before moving to catch up with him. Weird. He’s not happy that Darren decided not to tell him what was wrong, but to be fair Chris hasn’t told him a lot of things yet either, and the man is still here even after learning about Chris being a psychic.

The man guarding the exit straightens up as they approach him. “Sorry, Lumiose City is on lockdown until further notice.” His voice is gruff, and very obviously bored. 

“Yeah, no. We’re going through,” Darren replies angrily. Eevee bristles beside him, stepping up towards the man, making a growling noise at him.

The man gauffs at Eevee. “Right, well. You’re wasting your own time.”

Chris decides to move this on a little faster, knowing that the man will have been debriefed on what he looks like. He pulls his hood down. “Let us through.”

Stepping back a little in shock, the man exclaims, “It's you! Well, now I definitely can’t let you through.” The man unhooks two poké balls from his belt, and throws them out in front of him. The pokémon materialize, revealing a Frogadier and a Grimer.

“Darren, Frogadier has an aura,” Chris murmurs.

“Right,” Darren acknowledges him. “Why don’t you try to catch him? I’m going to try and use the Flaaffy Sycamore gave me.”

Chris nods, glancing down at Glaceon. He motions for his pokémon to jump into the battle. Glaceon moves out in front of Chris, standing firmly.

Darren picks the poké ball Sycamore gave him off his belt, and throws it out in front of him. Flaaffy materializes in front of him, and Chris watches the aura around it swirl around angrily.

He pauses, trying to remember the moves Flaaffy used against them earlier. “Alright! Flaaffy, Shadow Bolt!” Darren calls out.

“Glaceon, go! Use Ice Beam!”

Flaaffy flairs its aura, before charging a beam of electricity straight at Grimer as Glaceon gathers a charge of bright blue light in its mouth, before sending it firing at Frogadier.

The man looks surprised at the sudden start of the battle. “Frogadier, dodge and use Water Pulse! Grimer, use Sludge!”

Frogadier manages to jump up just before the Ice Beam manages to hit it, and sends a pulsating beam of water back towards Glaceon. Grimer, however, doesn’t managed to dodge Flaaffy’s electric shock. The pokémon gets hit dead on, swaying from the hit.

Darren notices the pokémon’s vulnerability at the time. “Flaaffy, finish off Grimer with a Shadow Rush!”

Flaaffy rushes towards the Grimer head on, knocking the pokémon over harshly. Grimer slumps down with a feeble groan, knocked out of the match. The guard quickly returns the pokémon to its poké ball, grumbling angrily under his breath.

“Nice going Flaaffy!” Darren calls out. Flaaffy cries back happily, proud of itself for a job well done. Darren returns her quickly to her poké ball.

At the same time, Glaceon gets hit with the pulse of water from Frogadier. He braces himself, letting the water rush against him. Glaceon shakes off the move with barely any damage done. 

Chris grins at his pokémon, the trainer made a mistake using a Water type move against an Ice type pokémon.

“Glaceon, Ice Shard!”

Icicles materializes around Glaceon, before the pokémon sends them throttling towards Frogadier. He gets hit by all of them, knocking into him one right after another. He falls onto the ground weakly, not quite knocked out. Frogadier tries to stand back up, arms wobbly.

“Chris, the machine!” Darren calls out from beside him.

“Right,” Chris murmurs. He grabs an empty poké ball out of his bag, taking it into his left hand, where the snag machine is. The poké ball flashes purple in his hand, which he assumes to mean that the machine is working. Chris throws the poké ball at Frogadier, watching as it disappear inside of it. The poké ball lands on the ground with a small click, wiggling a few times. It’s tense, the man is watching in awe and shock, and Chris and Darren are waiting for it to work. 

The poké ball flashes a final time, before settling down. Frogadier has been caught.

“What!” The guard screeches at them. Chris jogs forward to pick up the poké ball, before the man gets his bearings back. He hooks the poké ball on his belt, and turns toward the guard. 

“So, about going through the gate…,” Chris starts, but the guard collapses to the ground in defeat, He motions for them to just go through the gate.

Darren meets his Chris’ eyes, there’s a brief flash of concern before he grins. Eevee climbs up onto his shoulder, settling herself comfortably for the next leg of their trip. “Well, we’ll be on our way then.” He nods to the guard as they walk through the gate and into Route 13.

 

x

 

 


	3. Chapter Two

When they enter Route 13, it’s a shock to both of them.

Most routes are forest, covered in trees as far the eye can see. But spread out in front of them in a desert, deep red-ish brown sand and mountains cover their way, with a giant silver building off to both their right and left, connected to the main desert sprawled out in front of them with small silver bridges. Darren knows the buildings to be parts of the Kalos Power Plant. There’s smoke bellowing from the tops of the buildings, and sun is hitting them just right so that the reflection of light hurts to look at.

“We have to go across the one desert route in all of Kalos. Are you fucking kidding me?” Chris sighs. Glaceon’s ear droop, the heat in this route is ridiculous with it being late afternoon, and his Ice fueled body isn’t doing so well. Chris gives him one look, before deciding he’s going to have to travel in a poké ball for most of this route. After returning Glaceon into his poké ball, he sighs.

Darren gives him a smile. It definitely isn’t the greatest option in Kalos, but there are much worse Routes they could have to taken. Like an ocean route, when neither of them have a pokémon with Surf.

“Hey,” he moves closer to brush his shoulder against Chris’, “We’ll get through this. Just like we got through the battle with that guard. And we did a damn good job with that, didn’t we?”

He watches Chris duck his head away from Darren’s gaze, trying not to smile. “I suppose. Alright, let’s do this. We should try to get as far as we can before it gets dark in an hour or so.”

Darren can only nod in agreement, too captivated with the determination in Chris’ eyes.

x

Turns out an hour doesn’t get them too far in the desert. Darren doesn’t think they’re more than a half way through the Route before darkness descends on them. And although it's not as dangerous as being in a forest at night, they both know they’re going to be too exhausted to go very much longer, especially their method of trying to avoid all the trainers on the Route.

When Chris starts yawning every time they walk five steps, Darren knows it’s time to stop.

He glances around, trying to figure out where they should set up camp for the night. There isn’t really anywhere good, it's all open land with small ledges, cliffs, and large boulders. He spots a boulder a few feet ahead to their left that he determines to be good enough for the night.

“Chris,” Darren calls out. The man in question stops from where he was walking a few feet ahead. Chris turns around, just now realizing Darren hadn’t been following him for a few feet. “Let’s call it a night and camp over by that boulder?” He points to the large boulder, and Chris turns to look at it.

Chris can barely make out Darren, the sky has gone so dark. He can hear him though, and can  see the vague boulder-like shape he’s pointing to. Chris goes to question setting up camp so early, but he interrupts himself before he even begins with a yawn, and decides maybe they should set up camp. He gives Darren a nod, but Chris is sure Darren won’t be able to see it, so he just starts walking towards the boulder, hoping Darren gets the idea.

When they reach it, Darren’s more than glad he made the decision to set up camp because he feels like he could crash at any moment. His feet ache in ways they haven’t for years, and his eyes are burning from some pieces of sand that must have blown into his eyes during their walk in the desert, not to mention he’s starting to get hungry. He slips his backpack off and places it on the ground as Eevee jumps off his shoulder, and finds a spot next to the boulder to curl up against for now.

He unhooks the sleeping bag off his bag, and rolls it out onto the ground. Darren also grabs a jar of pokémon food and some of his canned food and  a small pan out as well. He looks over at Chris, who’s watching him in surprise. Chris has only a sleeping bag laid out, his bag next to it. There’s a moment where they meet each other’s eyes, before Chris stomach growls loudly.

Chris can feel his face heat up, for once glad for the darkness to cover up how red his face must be. “Uh… sorry, I just haven’t eaten since I got kidnapped this morning. I’ll be fine until we get to Coumarine City.”

Darren gapes at him, they won’t make it to the city until late tomorrow morning at best. “Nonsense,” he makes a waving motion with his hand. “If you can find any sticks lying around on the ground in this mess, we should be able to get some kind of fire going and eat this food.”

“Yeah, okay.” Chris turns to walk off, looking for sticks.

It takes them about ten minutes all together to get enough rocks and sticks to create the fire pit, and another five for Darren to actually start the fire.

“I thought you’ve traveled before?” Chris comments as he watches Darren struggle with the sticks, amused.

Darren sticks his tongue out at him. “Yeah, but I sure as hell didn’t make the fire. I cooked, someone else did this part with their Fire type pokémon.” 

“Oh.” Chris didn’t even think about the fact that Darren might not of traveled alone. It makes his stomach sink a little, even though he knows it shouldn’t. A lot of people travel around the region with their friends, or even family.

There’s a spark, and then the sticks light on fire. Darren grins triumphantly, face lit by the fire. He adds a few more sticks in, and pokes it gently until it’s a decent sized blaze.

“There! Now, for the food!”

In about ten minutes, they’re both eating mouthfuls of canned vegetables cooked over the fire and Eevee is munching on a bowl of pokémon food. The food is warm and filling, and Chris honestly can’t remember the last time he’s had a hot meal that wasn’t Pokémon Center food.

When he’s scraped all of his food out of the can, he meets Darren’s eyes. “Thank you.”

Darren swallows the bit of food he was chewing before replying, “You’re welcome." 

Chris drags his bag over his lap, digging around for a moment before pulling out the journal Lysandre gave to them. It’s obviously worn, brown cover frayed and covered in permanent dust. He undoes the strings that held it shut, and gently opens it to the first page of writing. Luckily, the writing isn’t scribbled and messy like his own, and it’s not hard to skim through.

As he glances quickly through the journal, a lot of it is things he has already known. Such as psychics being the only ones that can see the auras, and about how they were created by shutting down their heart. But he finally glances across the word purification.

Darren watches Chris silently, his whole body is focused on the journal, and Darren’s pretty sure the slightest thing would startle him so much he’d jump six feet in the air. Chris runs his finger down the page, pausing, and then using it as a guide to read across. His whole body is being lit from the flame, and Darren almost can’t breathe at how beautiful he looks. Chris bites his lip, and Darren has to glance back down at the can of food in his hand then.

Chris might be the most gorgeous person Darren’s ever seen, but they have to figure out this shadow pokémon thing first. 

“Huh,” Chris says to himself, eyes flicking across the book.

Darren sits down his now finished can of food, and then look back over at Chris. “What?” 

Chris’ eyes flick back up to Darren in surprise, as if he forgot Darren was even there. He’s pretty sure that’s exactly what happened, with the way he was so focused on the journal.

“Purification, the last thing in order to restore shadow pokémon, can only be completed at this chamber in the Orre region, or a special machine created in Orre. Or by the pokémon Celebi, who typically resides in the Johto region,” he drops the journal down on the ground with a huff, almost glaring at it. He’s pretty sure there has to be more than those ways to purify pokémon, but finding them is going to be a pain in the ass.

“Celebi?” Darren questions, his voice going high at the end. Chris looks at him curiously.

“Yeah, Celebi. Why?" 

Darren looks down at the ground, using his hand to draw in the dirt. He shrugs. “I had an encounter with Celebi when I was a kid, the day I brought Eevee home.” Eevee perks her head up then, trotting over to curl up in Darren’s lap. Darren strokes her head a few times, before moving down the white scruff around her neck. He feels the dogtag she’s worn ever since, and then its avalanche hits him.

“Eevee, let me see your tag,” he barely manages to get out. She stands up enough that he can grab the tag, and take it off of her. Darren holds the tag up closer to the fire, so he can make out the words clearer. 

‘ _Cipher’_  

“Fuck!” he let’s out, staring at the tag in awe.

“What?”

Darren motions him closer, and Chris moves from his place across the fire to sit next to him. Chris takes the dog tag out of his hands, and looks at the words embossed on it. His eyes widen in surprise. “Cipher?”

“Yeah.”

“Do yo-, do you remember what happened the day you met Celebi?” Chris swallows thickly. He looks over to where Eevee is curled up asleep again in Darren’s lap, and he keeps the tag clutched in his hand.

Darren nods. “Yeah, Eevee was acting really strange. She was thrashing about, headbutting and biting me. Sometimes she would stop, and I could approach her, but then it would just happen again. But eventually Celebi appeared, and it touched Eevee, making her stop acting out. And then it came over and touched me on the nose, before vanishing,” he pauses, glancing down at Eevee, and then back over to Chris, “She was a shadow pokémon, wasn’t she?”

“I think it’s very likely she was,” Chris replies softly. He knows it has to be hard for Darren to hear, learning that something so awful happened to his beloved pokémon. Darren’s whole body is drawn tight, like it’s waiting to snap at any moment. His eyes are focused on Eevee, so full of love for the small pokémon curled up in his lap. It makes Chris’ heart lurch. He was always told to find someone who loved their pokémon just as fiercely as he does. 

“And Celebi, purified her? Just like that?”

“Maybe, but there had to have been something that opened her heart.”

“I-uhm,” Darren looks towards the fire, focusing on it, “I had been visiting her for a while. Bringing her food, and playing with her. It was me, wasn’t it?" 

Chris smiles at him, watching the emotions flick across his face. He feels guilty for finding it so attractive, the attachment and love Darren obviously has for Eevee. “Darren,” he speaks softly, “It’s okay. She’s okay. She’s fine, you helped her, okay?”

Darren nods. His mind is racing with everything, eyeing Eevee in his lap. He wonders why she was in the woods that day, if she ran away or if they tossed her aside.

He steels himself, it doesn’t matter now. She’s safe, with him, and that’s all that matters.

Chris watches as Darren’s body relaxes, settling back to how he was earlier. Darren picks up Eevee off his lap, and places her back down in the spot she was curled up in earlier, giving him the ability to stretch his legs out, before drawing his knees up against his chest.

“What else did you learn?” Darren turns to face him.

“Well, more about the girl’s own psychic powers. It’s pretty similar to mine, which is good I guess.” He plays with the fraying end of his jacket sleeve.

“If you don’t mind answering,” Darren meets his eye, “What exactly can you do?” 

Chris glances over at him. Darren’s eyes are filled with genuine curiosity, glowing in the fire’s light. He glances out towards the desert. Chris feel bad, for all that he’s been trying to piece together Darren’s backstory, he hasn’t even told his the extent of his powers. And since Darren agreed to still come with him, he figures he owes him that much. “Not much, honestly. The auras, obviously. I can also communicate with pokémon, a little bit. I can feel certain words, or phrases from them, and I can usually feel their emotions as well. That’s really about it.” 

Darren nods. “Thank you, for telling me. You didn’t have to.” He’s surprised Chris told him, he figured it was one of those questions that you never really asked, only waited until they told you on their own. 

“I did,” Chris smiles at him, “If we’re going on this, adventure,” he pauses to make air quotes around the word, “together, you should know who you’re agreeing to put up with.”

“Man, I agreed to go with you. It’d kind of be really shitty for me to leave now, don’t you think?" 

Chris’ looks up in surprise. Darren can see him biting the inside of his cheek, contemplating something. “Honestly, I expected you to leave as soon as Sycamore said I was a psychic.” He regrets the words as soon as their out of his mouth. If Darren didn’t leave then, he definitely will now that he’s going to have to explain what people think of psychics.

“What?” Darren frowns, face crinkling in displeasure. “Why would I do that?” 

Chris quirks his eyebrow, giving Darren a ‘ _really?_ ’ look, as if he should know why being a psychic would make him want to leave. “Psychics have a reputation. Crazy? Eccentric? Complete and total weirdo? Not to mention no one wants to associate with ‘ugly-as-fuck-psychics’,” he says the last part in an obvious imitation of someone else.

He turns away from Darren to face the fire again, drawing his knees up to his chest and resting his arms on them, and Darren watches the way the light dances on his skin. Ugly and weird would be the last things he would ever use in association with Chris. “I already know you’re not any of those things, learning that you’re a psychic isn’t going to make me magically think that.”

Chris doesn’t move, still staring away from him. Darren realizes this isn’t something Chris typically tends to hear. He moves closer to Chris, so they’re sitting shoulder to shoulder. 

“You’re not crazy. Or eccentric. Or a complete and total weirdo. I think you’re smart as hell, and completely captivating. I didn’t just want to go on this adventure with you because I wanted to save the shadow pokémon, you know,” Darren pauses, “And in my humble opinion, you’re drop dead gorgeous.” Darren thinks about turning his face from Chris’ at the last sentence, realizing that maybe he shouldn’t of said that so soon. But it’s out there now, and goddamn if he’s going to hide away from his feelings.

Chris’ head whips around to stare at him. A soft ‘ _what?_ ’ comes out from his mouth. Chris feels like his insides are on fire. When was the last time he was told any of those things? Years ago, if ever. Especially not if he heard that last part correctly. And this man, who’s he only just met this, morning, already thinks so highly of him?

“I don’t think you’re crazy or e-.”

Chris interrupts him. “No I uhm, got that. The last part?”

Darren smirks, eyes glinting mischievously. “That I think you’re gorgeous?” Chris turns his head away again, trying to hide the blush in his arms. “Hey now, you don’t have to hide. Just stating my opinion.”

There’s a beat before Chris says something. Its mumbled, and Darren can barely make it out.

“You’re not so bad either." 

Chris doesn’t know why he said it. or what god he thinks is going to come from it, other than an awkward-ness. Just because he thinks you’re attractive doesn’t mean he wants anything in return.

Darren feels his heart lurch inside his chest. Chris turns his head back towards him. He’s chewing on his lip and obviously avoiding eye contact. Darren wants nothing more than to press his lips against his own, and he knows he shouldn’t, that they have a mission to carry out and this could ruin it.

But, well, Darren’s never really been good with controlling his impulses

He grabs Chris’ shoulder, tugging him back gently so that they’re even. “ _What-_ ,” Chris starts to whisper, but Darren leans forward and captures his lips in a soft kiss. Chris is startled enough to not kiss back immediately, and lets Darren take control. It’s just lips pressing together, and it's a little awkward, but it’s still so _much_. Chris, thankfully, kisses him back eventually. Their lips move together in the most perfect way, he thinks. And Darren just wants, wants to press closer, to tug Chris tighter against him, but he settles for cupping Chris’ jaw in his hands. His skin is soft, and he drags his thumb across Chris’ cheekbone gently.

Chris lets out a soft noise at the feeling of Darren thumb, and tries to tilt his head to press against it. His mind feel blank, like he just got electrocuted in the best way possible. Of all the ways he thought this adventure could have went, this is the one way he never predicted. 

They pull apart after a few moments, but Darren keeps his hand around Chris’ jaw, keeping them close together. He can feel Chris swallow thickly, and Chris’ eyelashes fluttering against his skin.

“I-,” Chris starts, but stops when he can’t collect his words enough to finish his thoughts. What does he say? That it was amazing? That he wants to keep doing that for the foreseeable future?

Darren laughs, and Chris can feel the vibrations against his skin. “Speechless?” Darren whispers against his skin.

He smacks Darren on the chest, which earns him a soft ‘ _ow_ ’ in reply.

“Shut the fuck up and kiss me again, Criss.”

x 

They don’t stay up to long after that. They were both exhausted hours ago, and just got worse the longer they went on. 

When they wake up in the early hours of the morning, Darren kisses Chris again, letting himself linger and press a little closer than they did last night. Chris scoffs at him, saying he hasn’t even used any mouth wash yet. Darren just shrugs him off, he honestly could care less.

By the time they’re all packed up, the sun is shining and the harsh heat is returning in full force. They continue towards Coumarine City, trading lazy banter back and forth as they move along, avoiding the trainers and running from wild pokémon encounters, or other things that will delay them from getting to Shalour City as fast as possible.

It only takes another hour or so of walking before they reach the grassy hills of Coumarine City. They’re more than grateful to be out of the desert, and the wind from the ocean feels nice against their hot skin. The town is built on cliff overlooking the ocean, and there’s flowers everywhere.

But when they walk in, Darren remembers exactly why he’s never really traveled this way before. There’s a large building close to the edge by the beach, with an even bigger awning hanging off to its side.

The monorail station that connects this half of the city to the other half. Meaning they need to take the monorail to the other side of the city, in order to reach Shalour.

And if what Lysandre said was true, Darren’s almost positive Cipher will have done something to mess with the rails.

“Darren?” Chris’ voice chimes in beside him. He’s looking at Darren with obvious worry across his face.

Darren tries to give him a weak smile, dragging him over to stand in front of the train station. “There’s a monorail we have to go on in order to get from this side of the city to the other. And I’d bet my life that Cipher has fucked it up somehow if they were already heading to Shalour before we left."

Chris frowns, staring at the large building. He’s almost certain Darren is right, and it’s impossible to reach the other half of the city without the monorails. Or a pokémon that knows Surf or Fly.

‘ _Beep_.' 

He turns to look at Darren in confusion. Darren pulls his bag around, shuffling through it for a few moment, before pulling out his Holo Caster. He presses the button to accept the message, and the hologram of Sycamore appears out of the machine.

“Oh good, you answered. Are you two in Coumarine already?”

“Yeah,” Darren replies, “We just go here.”

“Fuck. Well, Lysandre just found out that Cipher is screwing with the monorails. There’s an admin guarding them inside that isn’t letting people on the rails,” Sycamore runs a hand through his hair in nerves, pushing it away from his face.

“Well,” Chris starts, “Are they still running? Can we still go on them if we beat them?”

“I don’t know,” Sycamore replies. “But, I have better news. The Mega Evolution Guru is in Coumarine, he fled Shalour as soon as Cipher arrived in order to save himself. So you should try finding him, he might know a better way.”

Darren nods. “Sounds like a plan. What does he look like?”

“Oh, you’ll know him when you see him. Good luck boys.”

The Holo Caster makes another beeping noise, and the image of Sycamore disappears.

“Well, that was utterly useless. Find the Guru, you’ll just ‘know’,” Chris drawls out, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Darren reaches over to grab his hand, squeezing it gently. Chris blushes, he didn’t really expect Darren to make any kind of gesture of affection in public. “C’mon, let’s go heal up and change at the Pokémon Center before we do anything else.” He leads Chris next door to the station, the bright red roof sticking out against the very green city.

They walk up to the Nurse Joy manning the desk, and hand over their poké balls. They haven’t done really done any battling, but they can never be too cautious.

“Nurse Joy, is there a shower room or something we could use as well? Route 13 was pretty nasty,” Darren asks politely. She nods, pointing them off towards one of the doors to their left, and they can come get their pokémon when they’re done.

The room resembles the locker room of most schools, barely separated showers and tons of bathroom stalls. It doesn’t take them to hop in the shower, blushing and turning away from each other. They take showers at opposite ends of the row, not quite willingly do explore that far yet after only having just kissed last night. Or you know, just having met yesterday morning. 

It doesn’t take long for them to shower and change into their extra set of clothing (Darren could kiss his mother for forcing him to bring them) and put the snag machines back on, and their soon collecting their pokémon from Nurse Joy, and sitting in one of the many sofas in the Center. They’re munching on some of the food from the Center’s cafe, with Glaceon curled around their feet, happy to be out of his poké ball again, and Eevee sleeping in Darren’s lap.

“What’s are game plan for finding the Guru?” Chris questions, leaning closer against Darren. He’s not sure what they are exactly, beside people who quite obviously find each other attractive and don’t mind kissing each other, so he’s not sure what their boundaries are.

Darren hums, focusing on petting down Eevee’s back. “I don’t know. Was kind of hoping we’d just, run into him?”

“That’s your game plan?” Chris deadpans, giving him an irritated look. He sighs, getting back up and walking towards Nurse Joy again. “Sorry to bother you again,” he starts, “But you wouldn’t happen to know where the Mega Evolution Guru is staying during his time in Coumarine, would you?”

“The Guru?” She parrots back, “He’s staying in one of the rooms at the Inn. It's the building next door. When you exit just make a right.”

“Thank you so much,” Chris breathes out rushing back to where Darren is curled up with Eevee and Glaceon.

“Darren!” he exclaims.

Darren looks up, mouth turning up into a grin at the sight of Chris. He looks so much more comfortable since they’ve changed clothes, more like himself again. And Darren supposes that also has to do with the fact he spent time in a sack in those other clothes as well.

“Nurse Joy said the Guru is at the Inn next door.”

“Oh thank god, I didn’t really want to wander all around the city, only to find he was in the other half or something.” Darren stands up, waking up both of the pokémon. Eevee huffs, walking over the crawl into his bag. Glaceon just shakes it off before moving over next to Chris.

They pick up their bags and leave the Pokémon Center. As Nurse Joy told him, there’s an Inn just next door to the right. It looks pleasant, the place a couple with kids who have left the house might go to for vacation or something. When they walk inside, they’re immediately drawn to the people strewn about over the downstairs lounge area. It’s modeled to look like the downstairs of a house, with a kitchen, living, and dining room all decorated and polished. There are several people in each room, talking and milling about.

Darren and Chris are greeted by a woman shortly after stepping into the door. Her polo and khakis give away her employment at the Inn just as much as her greeting does.

“Hello, welcome to The Coumarine Inn, how may I help you?”

“Hi, we’re here looking for the Mega Evolution Guru? We heard he was staying here.” Chris replies, trying to match her pleasant and calm tone. He can see out of the corner of his eye that Darren is trying to locate the man in one of the rooms by glancing around and arching his head in different directions.

The employee frowns. “I’m sorry, we’re not allowed to tell whether someone is staying at our Inn." 

“Well, you don’t have to,” Darren sighs, “We know he’s here. We just need to see him.”

“I’m sorry sir, you may not see him unless he has give-,” The woman gets interrupted by a man coming down the stairs.

“I’m giving them explicit permission to see me,” The man says as he stops halfway down. He’s about as old as Chris expected, face wrinkled with laugh lines and hair that’s what left is almost white. He has tan clothing on, a polo not too much different from the employees, except the logo on left breast pocket.

The woman turns around to face him, startled and slightly embarrassed. “Sorry sir, you can use the conference room down the hall if needed.” She gives him a polite nod, before leaving to deal with another guest.

The man stares at both of them curiously, before he finishes climbing down the stairs. He motions for them to follow him down the hall. They glance briefly at each other, and Darren gives Chris an encouraging nod, before they follow. He opens a door off to the left of the hallway, and they follow him inside. 

It’s very obviously a conference room, with dark green walls and hardwood flooring, but in the middle of the room sits a long table surrounded by office chairs. The man sits at one end of the table, and nods for them to sit to the two chairs to his left. Darren takes the seat closest to the man, and Chris sits down next to him. Glaceon sits over by the door, as if he was guarding it.

“Sycamore sent you, yes?” The man begins.

Darren can feel the nerves rolling off Chris in waves. He sneaks his hand and puts it on top of Chris’ knee under the table, squeezing it gently. He can visibly see Chris relax, and suddenly there’s a hand on top of his, squeezing back.

“Uhm yes sir. I’m Chris, Chris Colfer. And this is my-,’ Chris pauses looking over at Darren, before turning back to the Guru. No matter how he words this, it isn’t going to come out well. “My partner, Darren Criss.” When he chances glances at Darren again, the bastard is grinning ear to ear.

The Guru nods, smiling at both of them. “Good. I am called the Mega Evolution Guru, for it is I who have been passed the knowledge of Mega evolving. But I hear that is not all you seek from me?” 

“No sir. We were also wondering if you knew another route to Shalour City, because Cipher has shut down the monorail.”

“Hmm. Well then, first I must tell you something, and I hope you’re not too disappointed. All of the objects needed for Mega evolution are still at the Tower of Mastery, for I had to flee quickly in order to escape Cipher. So I cannot actually grant and help you with Mega evolving, I can only tell you what you need to know." 

Chris look at him curiously, confused by why exactly he let them speak to him if he cannot offer Mega evolution to them. 

“Ah, it is fine. I don’t think either of you are quite ready for Mega evolution yet anyways, since neither of you have a pokémon capable of doing it."

“Then why let us in?” Darren questions. He’s swiping his thumb over Chris’ knee gently to help settle his own nerves.

The man sighs, “Because you need a way to the city, do you not? And I have one.” He takes a poké ball out of his pocket, and slides it over to him. “That contains an Altaria that I found long ago in my journeys. I no longer have the time give her the proper care needed, so I’m gifting her to you. She is also capable of using Fly, no matter badges.”

Darren picks up the poké ball, rolling it around in his hand. “And what about Mega evolution?”

“Inside the Tower, at the very bottom under the statute of Lucario, lies a room. Take this key,” he takes pulls a necklace out from where it was tucked under his shirt, and unclasps it from around his neck. He gives it to Darren, who promptly gives it to Chris. “Use that key to unlock the room, Cipher shouldn’t have been able to break in. In the room are Mega bracelets, there should be at least one for each of you, and a Mega Stone of every pokémon currently known to be capable of Mega evolution. Give the pokémon the corresponding stone, and activate them. The pokémon will know what to do,” He nods at them, and gets up to leave.

The Guru pauses at the door beside Glaceon. He look at the pokémon, before giving it a smile, and turning back to Chris and Darren. “You will both accomplish great things, I believe. And a bit of advice, don’t fly directly to Shalour City. There are Cipher grunts looking out for you two.” And with that, he leaves the conference room.

Chris is staring at where the man left in stunned silence. That was one of the weirdest experiences he’s ever had. He turns to Darren, who is staring at the poké ball in his hand.

“Hey,” Chris starts, handing the key necklace towards Darren, “Can you help me put it on?”

“Yeah, sure.” He takes the necklace in his hand, thumbing open the clasp gently. Darren moves closer to Chris so he can reach around his neck, hooking the necklace around it. After it’s hooked, he rubs over the back of Chris’ neck with his thumb, gently massaging it. Darren stares at Chris lips, it feels like it’s been ages since they’ve kissed, although it has only been since this morning.

He presses forward, crushing their lips together again. Chris lets out a startled moan, before cupping the sides of Darren’s face with his hand. It sends a rush of heat through Chris’ body, being this close to Darren again. The hand on the back of his neck feels amazing, especially where Darren’s thumb is rubbing circles.

When Darren goes to pull away, Chris drags him back, repositioning their lips and tasting him again. He decides to get a little daring, and presses his tongue against Darren’s lips, trying to get inside. Darren complies, opening his mouth. They explore for a few moments, the sensations running over them in waves of pleasure.

They finally pull apart, both covered in blush and lips colored a deep red. Chris looks up at Darren’s eyes, which are wide in adoration.

Chris has to swallow to prevent himself from saying something stupid, such as, ‘ _I think I might be falling in love with you._ ’

Especially when he’s not sure _what_ they are.

Darren squeezes the back of Chris’ neck gently, before pulling his hand away. He looks down at the table, and tries to cover his mouth with his hand to hide his grin. “We should, uh, head to Shalour CIty.” Darren’s voice comes out a little breathier than normal, and Chris can only nod in reply.

x

They head back outside, and stand in a clearing on the east side of the city. Darren pulls the poké ball out, and tosses it in front of them. Altaria materializes, shaking itself and stretching out its large fluffy wings.

He approaches the pokémon, walking up until he’s a few feet in front of her. “Hey there Altaria,” he murmurs softly, letting her shuffle closer to him. When she finally gets close enough, he reaches out and strokes her head. Altaria lets out a contented noise, pushing back against Darren’s hand. “Think you can fly us to the other side of Coumarine City?”

Altaria blinks up at him, and nods. “Altaria!” It chatters happily.

Chris smiles as he watches the two of them interact. He can feel how much Altaria already trusts the other man, even though they’ve barely interacted. He walks over to stand beside Darren, before glancing down at Glaceon, who’s trailing at his feet. “Time for you to go back in your poké ball.”

Glaceon makes a noise of disagreement, but lets Chris return him inside the ball. Chris turns back towards Darren. “Ready?”

“Yeah, let's go!”

Altaria hunches down low enough that they’re both able to slip onto the pokémon’s back. Darren sits in front, closer to her neck and head. Chris sits behind him, hands awkwardly trying to find a place to rest.

Darren turns toward him, grinning. He grabs Chris’ hands and tugs, causing him to scooch forward so that he’s pressed up against Darren’s back. Darren then takes Chris’ hands and places them on his hips, giving them a squeeze before placing his own hands on around Altaria’s neck.

Chris wants to laugh at how silly they must look, but then Altaria starts flapping her wings and he moves to wrap his arms around Darren’s tiny waist.

The higher Altaria goes up into the air, the closer Chris tries to press against Darren. He never realized he might be scared of flying until he was already in the air. Being pressed so close to Darren should be awkward, but the rush of adrenaline from flying seems to be keeping it at bay for now.

Altaria gives a loud cry, determinedly high enough, before flying forwards towards the other side of the City. She follows along the monorail tracks, over the ocean and slicing through clouds.

Darren’s feels overwhelmed with all the sensations. He’s trying to take in everything visually, how gorgeous the Kalos region looks from this height, and how amazing the wind feels as they slice through the air. But all he can concentrate on is Chris plastered against his back, how warm he feels, and how Chris has changed his breathing pattern to match Darren’s.

“You okay back there?” Darren calls out.

“I’m managing.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you, I promise.” He says gentler, not shouting to be heard. He feels Chris nod against his back, and his grip loosens a little.

Chris can see the buildings from Coumarine City start to appear, and Altaria starts to descend in towards a clearing at the western exit. She lands gracefully, and then crouches down enough that Darren and Chris can climb off with ease.

Chris wobbles for a moment, unsteady after flying, even such a short distance.

“Woah!” Darren reaches out and wraps an arm around his waist for support and pulls him closer, until Chris can stand still. He relaxes against Darren’s side.

“Thank you,” he murmurs softly. He presses a brief kiss to Darren’s temple, and grins at the way Darren’s face lights up at the gesture.

Darren points off to their left, where the gate for Route 12 is. “You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Chris sighs, dragging himself away from Darren’s side with a frown.

The Guru’s warning about Cipher grunts looking out for them rings in his head. He’s almost sure they will have placed people in Route 12, in order to stop them from getting to Shalour.

When they finally enter Route 12, they discover it is pretty large. Not nearly as expansive as Route 13 was, however, and luckily for them it’s a grassy tree and flower filled Route, instead of a desert. But a half an hour in, Chris spots a trainer up ahead with a Crobat, cloaked in the all too familiar aura.

There aren’t too many times Chris despises being right. In most cases, he loves being right. But not this time.

Because that’s not the only trainer by a long shot. 

There has to be about twenty or so trainers scattered about the Route, Chris assumes all with different shadow pokémon. They’re spaced out enough that they can avoid some of them, but they’re still going to have to battle a large number of the trainers in order to make it across to Shalour City.

Maybe they should have just ignored the Guru’s advice and flew straight in. He’s pretty sure it’s not going to be any worse than what’s about to happen.

“Darren, that Crobat up ahead is a shadow pokémon. I’m assuming most of these trainers have one.”

“Splendid,” Darren frowns, “Just what we needed.” He glances over to see Chris’ worried look. Right. One of them needs to have some kind of confidence about this, or they’re not even going to stand a chance against all of these trainers.

“We can do this Chris. We’ve got Eevee, Glaceon, Altaria, Flaaffy, and Frogadier. Plenty of pokémon to help us, alright?” He tries to look encouraging, but by the blank look Chris is giving him, he’s positive his nerves are coming across more than anything else.

Chris grips the strap of his bag tighter, and leans over to press his lips quickly against Darren’s. Darren manages to grasp Chris’ face in his hands before he can pull away, and deepens the kiss ever so slightly. When they separate, Chris’ face is scattered with pink blush.

“What was that for?” Darren murmurs. 

Chris laughs, looking towards the ground. “Good luck?” He shrugs.

“Good enough for me,” Darren hums in reply, grabbing at Chris’ hand and tugging him towards the first trainer, the one with the Crobat.

x

Darren was right, in a sense. They did manage to make it all the way through Route 12, but barely. They’re exhausted, covered in a layer of sweat and tired as hell. Not to mention their pokémon. Most of them are fainted, or so low it wouldn’t even be worse sending them out of their poké balls. The only one with any kind of health is Frogadier, and its still pretty abysmalll.

But, Darren grins to himself, they managed to snag several of the trainers’ shadow pokémon for their own. And although they’re also low on health, or fainted, he can’t way to start caring for them. Darren saved an Azumarill and a Quilladin, while Chris managed to get the first trainer’s Crobat, a Mawhile, and Reuniclus, making them each have teams of five.

And they made to Shalour City, kind of.

They’ve made it just inside the city limits, panting and staring wide-eyed at all the buildings around them. He can see the Tower of Mastery just in the distance, and while he’s excited to finally try and end Cipher, he could also use a nap first. Darren’s pretty sure neither of them will be any use against Cipher as they are at the moment.

He looks over to Chris, who looks just as tired as Darren feels, but he’s still grinning at the city all around him. Chris meets his eye and grins.

Darren goes to step towards him, but a voice interrupts him.

“Ah, I wouldn’t go near him if I were you.” 

He whips his head around to face the voice. There’s a woman standing in front of them, blocking their way into the city. She has bright blue hair, and almost night vision look goggles on. Her uniform is very obviously from Team Flare, but more sophisticated, so Darren assumes she’s not just a typical grunt.

“And why shouldn’t I go near him?

The woman juts one of her hips out, resting her hand on it. “Don’t you know? He’s the most wanted man in Kalos right now.” 

Chris lets out a noise of disbelief beside him. Don’t people have more important things to be doing than trying to kidnap him?

“Right,” Chris says, crossing his arms, “What do you want with us?”

She smiles. “Oh, nothing much. Just going to defeat you in battle and prevent you from ever entering this city so that our boss can harness the power of Mega evolution once and for all.”

“What?” Darren almost screams. “We... our pokémon can’t-," 

“I can, it’ll be fine. Just a one-on-one battle alright with you?” Chris asks the woman.

She contemplates it for a moment, before agreeing. “Sure, might as well drag this out.” The woman

throws out her poké ball, revealing a Houndoom. The pokémon snarls, clamping its teeth together to try and intimidate them.

“You’ve got this Chris,” Darren tries to reassure him off to the side. Chris throws his own poké ball out, revealing Frogadier.

Chris doesn’t start the battle worried, he knows Frogadier’s Water type should give him an advantage over Houndoom’s Fire type, making for an easy victory even with Frogadier’s lowered health. But as soon as he commands Frogadier to use Water Pulse, he can tell something isn’t right.

He can feel Frogadier’s emotions are out of whack, they’re every which way and switching too quickly for Chris to keep track. Frogadier’s aura has also changed from a deep purple to red, flaring out and around him in wicked movements. 

The pokémon turns from Houndoom, facing back towards Chris. “Dieer!” It screeches angrily. Frogadier jumps up and forward towards Chris, paw out stretched and glowing.

Chris barely has time to register what’s happening, that Frogadier has turned to use Aerial Ace on him, before there’s a shove against his left side. He stumbles and crashes off to his right, slamming his shoulder into the ground. He manages to turn his head just in time to see Darren get hit with Frogadier’s attack.

Darren slams backwards into the ground, whimpering, and there’s a noise Chris doesn’t want to even imagine what could have caused it. 

“Darren!” He cries out, struggling to move up off the ground. His shoulder hurts like hell, as if someone stabbed a knife through it, but Chris manages to move and kneel next to Darren.

He’s making pained noises, body arching backwards in pain. Darren’s eyes are tightly squeezed shut, and his arms clenched into fists at his side. “Darren, what’s wrong? You need to tell me what’s wrong,” Chris says as move to place the hand of his uninjured arm against Darren’s cheek.

“D-don’t know, hurts,” he stutters out.

“I know, I know,” Chris glances up, looking around in worry to try to see if there’s anyone in the area to help them. He only then realizes that the Team Flare member and her pokémon had vanished, and that Frogadier is watching with scared eyes. He swallow thickly, ignoring Frogadier for the moment. He’ll have to deal with that later. 

It’s a tense few minutes of Chris not knowing what to do. He’s terrified, Darren looks really bad and he can’t stand the thought of losing him. But he can’t go get help and leave Darren on his own either. 

“Over here!” There’s a voice off to their right, and Chris see a woman running towards them, two men trailing behind her. When she gets closer, Chris realizes the two men have a makeshift stretcher with them, and he briefly wonders if they work for the Pokémon Center. 

“Hi,” the girl says, “Lauren Lopez, nice to meet you. We have to get Darren back to our tent, now.” She motions for the two guys to do their thing, and Chris barely has time to wonder how she knew Darren’s name before the men have Darren on the stretcher and are getting ready to carry him back to their tent. 

“C’mon, you too,” She motions for Chris, as if was going to let them just take Darren and him not come too. 

He stumbles up on to two feet, reaching back down to grab his and Darren’s bags that fell onto the ground in all the scuffle. He winces at the pain that shoots through his shoulder as he takes out a poké ball, and turns around to return Frogadier inside it.

He looks at the woman, who’s already sent the two men with Darren off to the tent. She’s giving him a soft smile, and Chris knows that there’s more to her than just some random person who happened to see Darren get hurt.


	4. Chapter Three

Chris expects the tent she mentioned to be a camping tent, most likely. Or a tent that vendors use to sell goods.

When she leads him back into Route 12, making in immediate right and through some bushes, the tent appears to be neither of those things. Instead, it’s a giant circus tent. It towers high into the trees, and spans out quite a ways in the forest. The strips are bright orange and baby blue, instead of the typical red and white he’s used to seeing. 

There’s a large sign erected next to tent, reading ‘ _Starkid Productions: Kalos’ only Pokémon Theatre Troupe!'_  

“What..,” he trails off as she motions him to follow her inside. 

The inside of the ten is even more massive than the outside.

The main area inside is a enormous seating area, with a large stage against the far wall of the tent from Chris. Lauren grabs his arm, and leads him to the left, into a hallway. There are curtains hung every so often to his right, which Chris assumes to mean those are peoples’ bedroom. He can hear muffled conversations, whispered voices and small bouts of laughter coming from different parts of the tent.

Finally, she pulls him through the curtain at the end of the hall. Inside lays Darren, on as many sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows as they’ve managed to stuff underneath him.

Chris falls to his side immediately, but soon realizes he’s asleep. Darren is still, except for the occasional snore that makes him wince in pain. He’s also shirtless, Chris notices, and his face turns beet red. Most of his chest seems to be wrapped anyhow, so he glances down.

“They gave him some of the good medicine to help take the pain away, and they wrapped some of his ribs. We’re not sure when he’ll wake back up, only that it will happen. Thank god Meredith wanted to be a human nurse before she met us,” Lauren sighs, plopping down on a bean bag against one of the tent’s walls. “Darren’s got himself hurt real good this time, I’d say. Narrowly avoided injuring his spine, maybe he’ll stop being such a fucking idiot now.”

He pauses, listening to Lauren and trying to absorb everything she’s telling him. He remembers she said his name early as well, which is weird. “Wait, how do you know his name?”

She meets his eyes, and the soft smile from earlier returns. “He didn’t tell you what he used to do?”

Chris shakes his head. “No, we, uhm, haven’t really known each other that long…,” and that makes Chris stop. Because they haven’t. It’s barely been twenty-four hours of knowing this man, and yet he was so terrified earlier of something happening to him.

And earlier today, after their talk with the Guru? If he wasn’t positive that he was falling for Darren then, he is now.

Chris Colfer is falling in love with Darren Criss, and there’s not a damn thing he can do to stop it.

To think, he almost lost Darren. If Lauren hadn’t saw them… who knows where closet human hospital is? Probably all the way back in Lumiose City.

He blinks, willing away his tears he can feel creeping from his eyes.

“Ah,” Lauren hums to herself. Chris turns to face her again, and she gestures around the tent.

“Oh." 

Darren was apart of the this then, whatever this is.

“What do you guys do, exactly?” He turns back down to look at Darren, who makes a snuffling noise in his sleep. Chris reaches forward without thinking about it, and smoothes away a stray curl that has fallen in front of his face.

“We’re a traveling theatre troupe, but we perform with our pokémon,” she pauses, “Speaking of…,” she moves off the bean bag chair and over to Darren’s bag. Lauren rummages through it for a few moments, before finding a poké ball. She opens it, releasing Eevee.

Eevee looks around for a moment, first noticing Darren lying in his pile of blankets. She runs towards him, ears drooping with worry. Chris can feel her emotions through his empathetic link, and tries to soothe her worries. “He’s okay Eevee, I promise.” The pokémon startles, not having realized Chris was there. She seems to calm a little at his words.

After another beat, she seems to recognize where she is. Eevee’s face lights up, and she turns around to face Lauren. She runs for Lauren, leaping into her arms to be hugged and petted. “There’s my god-pokémon!” Lauren coos at her, stroking her head.

Chris can see the obvious bond between the two, and wonders to himself what Darren’s reaction will be to being here. He sure as hell didn’t want to tell Chris about being in a troupe, so would he want to of come back? 

“Lauren!” A man pokes his head through the curtain of the tent, before sticking his arms through as well. He’s holding a Zorua, who’s trying to wiggle away from him. The pokémon jumps out of his arms at the sight of Eevee, and rushes over to Lauren. “Stop letting Zorua get into my things!” And with that man leaves in a huff.

Zorua, however, is jumping around Lauren’s feet, until Eevee hops down. The pokémon nudge each other, before going to curl up in a corner.

“Joey, always thinking I tell Zorua what she can and can’t do. Yeah right, she’s had me working for her the minute I got her,” Lauren shakes her head, and returns to her bean bag with a thump.

“So Darren performed with you guys?” He asks, voice quite. He wants to hear it from Darren, but he doesn’t know when the other man is going to wake up. Chris could be spending quite some time with these people, and he needs to know their connection to Darren.

She nods, stretching her legs out. “He was the star of our show, taking children’s book and putting them to music with our pokémon. But he left not all that long ago, to follow his dreams. And yet, here we are.” Lauren smiles at Chris. “So, what’s your story kid?” 

“I-,” he hesitates. He can either say nothing, and remain a stoic figure in this tent for however long it takes Darren to rest, or he could try to get to know the people that must of had some influence on him for such a long period of time. “Darren saved me. I got kidnapped for seeing auras around pokémon, turns out that’s not such a good thing. We were on our way now to Shalour to try and take out Cipher, that’s who created the auras, once and for all.”

Lauren studies him for a moment, Chris assumes she’s trying to figure out if he’s lying or not. “Damn. Who would of thought that when Darren leaves, he ends playing prince. Falling in love and saving the world.” 

_Falling in love….?_ He never mentioned that him and Darren had a romantic connection. 

“What?”

“Deny it all you want. But I saw the two of you before that woman came, Darren looks like you hung the moon. And you look at him the same way. Plus, you wouldn’t still be here if you didn’t love him.”

“I-, he’s my _friend_ of course I’m still here-," 

She smirks. “You said it yourself, you’ve only known him for a day or so. Would you do this for any other friend you had only met a day ago?”

Chris turns away from her, focusing back on Darren. The way his thick eyelashes flutter every time he squeezes them shut tighter, or the way his lips sometimes curl up into a smile. 

She moves up out of her chair towards him, kneeling down beside him. “Hey,” she moves her hand to his face, so that’s he’s forced to look at her, “You guys will figure it out. Promise. As soon as you guys save the world. That’s how all the fairytales go, right?” He nods, turning to look back at Darren. He can hear her shuffle towards the exit, before she pauses again, “There’s blankets and pillows over in the corner when you’re tired, okay?” And with that she’s out of the room, at least one of the pokémon trailing behind her.

There’s a few moments where he’s just sitting in silence, trying to sort out all of the things he has learned. Chris eventually gets up and collects a two blankets off the floor along with two pillows, and lays them out next to where Darren is resting. He curls up on them, wrapping himself in the warmth. Chris eventually tries to line up his breath intakes with Darren’s, which helps him start to slip into unconsciousness. 

A few minutes later, just when he’s about to drift off to sleep, he feels something try to curl up in between where his arms are resting. His eyes blink open sleepily, just in time to see Eevee curl herself up and press close to his chest.

Chris pulls her closer, before finally falling asleep.

x

Chris is startled awake in the morning when a loud “Fuck!” comes from beside him. He shoots up, looking over at Darren. The man is clutching at his side, presumably where he hurt his ribs.

“Hey,” Chris moves closer to him. He takes the hand Darren clutching in his, running his thumb over Darren’s knuckles. Darren’s eyes crack open, and they blink for a few minute. He looks around at their surroundings, before his eyes finally settle on Chris.

“Mm-, where are we?”

“Starkid’s tent.” Chris grins at Darren’s expression. His whole face lights up like Christmas just came early.

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. You in anymore pain?” His eyes wander across Darren’s body, searching for any signs of pain. Chris is almost positive Darren would be the asshole to lie to the doctors about not needing any medicine. He blushes, momentarily forgetting that Darren was shirtless.

Darren shakes his head and cocks an eyebrow at him. “See somethin’ you like? And it’s not that bad, the stuff they must of given me yesterday works miracles. Maybe just some ibuprofen or something?”

“Shut up,” Chris’ face burns red, “And sure, I’ll be right back, okay?” He goes to stand up, but Darren tugs on his hand as much as he can. Chris looks at him curiously. “I can’t go get you the medicine if you don’t let me go.” 

“Kiss me?” He pouts, his bottom lip jutting out, but his lips are still turned into a grin.

Chris complies, leaning down to kiss him. Darren sighs, letting Chris take control and just following his lead. It’s like a balm over his pain, like the aches know enough to dull down so he can focus on Chris’ lips.

He pulls back from Darren, giving him a small peck on the cheek. Before he even has a chance to kneel back up, the man that brought Lauren’s Zorua in yesterday slides in through the curtain. The man eyes them both wearily for a moment, and Chris’ brain goes to the ‘ _he doesn’t approve of you for Darren_ ’ place.

But Darren just gives the man a shit eating grin. 

“You’re a right bastard, you know that?” The other man grumbles out. He walks over towards where they’re sitting, and hands Chris a bottle of ibuprofen and a glass of water without really looking at him. “First, you just up and leave us to follow your dreams, which is great and all, but now you end up back here after getting attacked? And, on top of all that, you just happened to find this guy and fall in love with him? Why do you always get to do the fun stuff?”

“Sorry Joey,” Darren wheezes out in between bouts of laughter. As much as he’s loved his own adventure, and of course getting to know Chris, he’s missed his friends. “Love you too.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just, come back without getting attacked next time?” He quirks an eyebrow at Chris. “You can bring him back though, I think he’ll do you some good." 

“Can do.”

“Also, Lauren says since you’re awake, your injuries must not have been as bad as they originally thought. You can probably leave whenever.” Joey shakes his head at Darren’s grin at being released, before sliding back out of the room.

Chris looks between the curtain and Darren.

“Joey’s been my best friend since grade school,” he explains. “Can you help me sit up?” Darren makes grabbing motions with his hands, which makes Chris smile enough to show his teeth. Chris places the medicine and water down, before helping to pull Darren up into a sitting position with minor pain. Once he’s up, he’s fine to hold himself, and he scoots a little so Chris can sit beside him on his blanket pile.

Chris grabs the medicine and water. He hands the glass to Darren, who takes it gratefully. Chris pops two pills out of the container and hands those over as well, and Darren chugs them down in one gulp of water. 

Darren moves closer to rest his head on Chris’ shoulder, letting Chris wrap his arm around him, and soaking in the warmth and comfort from him. Chris hand feels amazing against his bare skin, and Darren almost wants to purr like a cat. After a moment, Eevee comes climbing up Darren’s legs, walking across him and curling up in Chris’ lap. Darren’s jaw drops, and lets out a gasp of surprise.

“I’ve, honestly never seen her do that with anyone besides Lauren. And it took over a year for her to get that comfortable with her.”

Chris pets across her back, “She curled up with me last night too.”

“Huh,” Darren watches her relax under Chris’ touch and snuggle closer to him.

“Tell me about them?” Chris asks gently, “About your time with Starkid?" 

Darren looks up at him, eyes wide in surprise. “You really want to know?” Chris nods. “Oh, well when I turned ten I was all set to leave on my pokémon journey. My older brother, Chuck, brought me all the way to Lumiose City from Cyllage, which is where I’m from, to get my Pokédex and everything. On the way there, we saw this tent, and I asked if we could go see the performance. Chuck took me, and it was like I was enraptured. I’d always loved performing, and I loved Eevee even more, so combining those two things was like a miracle.”

Chris smiles at him, stroking a few stray curls out of his face and waiting for him to continue.

“I asked Chuck if I could join them instead, and they welcomed me with open arms. I spent the better part of ten years traveling with them, we visited all around the Kalos region, performing for important people like Mayor’s and Gym Leaders. We even once performed for Diantha, the pokémon Champion.”

“So why did you leave?”

Darren frowns, fiddling with the bandages on his chest. “While performing was great, I had always wanted to be a Gym Leader. What they’re able to do is amazing, not to mention the amount of things they can do for the community. Korrina has a fitness center in her Gym, and some Gyms have rescue center for pokémon or volunteer things. I wanted to do that too, but I couldn’t do that without defeating the Gyms on my own first, and for that I had to leave.”

They sit in silence for a few moments before Darren speaks again. “Where are you from?”

Chris inhales sharply, he’d been hoping to avoid this half of the conversation. “Dendemille Town,” he breathes out, “Sorry-, its, I didn’t have a good experience.” 

“You don’t have to tell me,” Darren looks up at him, resting his cheek against Chris’ neck. 

“I uhm, was basically bullied all through grade school for my looks and my voice. I got Eevee as a present when I turned ten, Lumiose City was too far for my parents to take me to with my younger sister’s health problems. I was going through secondary schooling, to get extra training before trying my hand at the gym leaders. I actually had the same dream you did, to become a Gym Leader. But I also didn't want to leave my sister when she was so young.”

Chris pauses, collecting his words. “Eevee evolved in Frost Cavern, and suddenly we realized I was an empathic psychic, and that just made things so much worse. The bullying eventually escalated so badly I had to move in with my Grandmother in Camphier Town. And that’s where I’ve been since.”

“Why haven’t you gone on your journey, if you dream was to be a Gym Leader as well?” Darren kisses the side of his neck gently, its comforting and calming at the same time, and Chris basks in it.

“When you get told so many time that you’re a freak of nature, you start to believe it.”

Darren heaves himself up so they’re at eye level again, and leans in to kiss Chris softly on the mouth. “You’re not a freak of nature, you’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met in my life.”

“Thank you,” Chris exhales. It feels like years worth of tension is melting from his body, Darren is like the balm he never knew could heal his wounds. 

They sit in the comforting silence for quite some time, occasionally exchanging a kiss or two, neither of them willing to bring themselves back to reality.

“So,” Darren begins, “Give me a few hours and we can try going for the Tower again.”

“What!” Chris yells, almost jumping away from Darren to look at him, but decides better of it at the last minute. “No way. You just got hurt I’m not letting it happen again. And we still don’t know why Frogadier attacked!”

Darren pulls his head back so he can meet Chris’ eyes. “Chris, I’m fine. I’m good as new.” He glances down at Eevee, before looking back up at Chris. “I think Frogadier was going through the same thing Eevee went through the day Celebi appeared.”

Chris decides to drop the argument of Darren and him going into the Tower today for now. “So, you think he’s ready to be purified?” Darren nods in agreement.

“Eevee, go grab Frogadier’s poké ball, would you?” Eevee looks up at him with the best bitch face she can muster, before getting up and bringing over Chris’ bag. She leaves it beside him with a huff, and then goes back to where she was curled up on his lap.

Chris digs the poké ball out of his bag, and releases Frogadier. The aura is still a deep red, but Frogadier seems to be focusing on controlling himself. The pokémon is staring down at the floor underneath him, almost as if he’s trying to ignore their presence. 

Darren reaches forward to touch him, and Chris panics. Frogadier doesn’t look like he can handle any pestering from them, not without lashing back. But Darren makes before he can stop him. 

Frogadier’s head whips up to meet Darren’s, but instead of lashing out, there’s a brief flash of burning white light, that disappears instantly. And when Chris looks back at Frogadier, he realizes the aura is gone.

“Darren, the aura’s gone.”

“What?” Darren question, glancing from his hand to Frogadier. “That’s what happened when Celebi touched Eevee, there was an instant flash of light, and then it was gone.”

“Didn’t you say Celebi touched you too?” Darren nods quickly, not understanding where Chris is going with this. “What if, Celebi gave you the power to finish the purification process? It is the guardian of time. What if it knew you would need it?" 

Darren stares blankly at his hand, before glancing at Frogadier. The pokémon looks just as surprised as the Darren and Chris feel.

Suddenly, Frogadier beings glowing white, and Chris knows exactly what’s happening. He morphs, his shape becoming bigger and lankier. When the white light fades, they’re staring at a Greninja.

“He evolved?” Darren whispers.

“Gree, ninja!” Greninja shouts gleefully, eyes crinkling up in a smile.

“Eevee!” Darren shouts, startling the pokémon, “Grab my bag too!” 

They release all of the shadow pokémon they’ve managed to capture so far on their journey into the small room. Darren stands up with Chris’ help, and approaches all of them one by one, touching them briefly to see if they can be purified.

It only yields results from Flaaffy, Crobat, and Mawile, who both flash white much like Frogadier did. And then, as Frogadier did, Flaaffy evolves shortly after into a stunning Ampharos.

Chris and Darren return the pokémon back to their respective poké balls, grinning at each other. Chris honestly can’t believe they managed to save some of these pokémon, and that they should be able to save the rest in time too.

When he’s not paying attention Darren grabs both sides of Chris’ face in his hands and tugs him forward, smashing their lips together. He moans into the kiss, immediately opening his mouth for Chris’ tongue to explore. Chris loops his arms around Darren’s waist, pulling them even closer together. They trade breathless kisses for several minutes, until they have to pull away panting.

“Can we go take on the Tower now?” Darren pants against his mouth, lips still trailing across Chris’ cheek and jawline.

Chris grins. He doesn’t have an argument anymore, and he knows it. If Darren can just participate in the make-out session like he did, and they figured out the problem with Frogadier, he doesn’t have any other options.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

x

To their surprise, there isn’t anyone waiting on them when they go back inside Shalour City. They assume that the woman they faced yesterday had thought they were out of commission for a while, so they didn’t bother setting up the extra guard today. 

The two of them sneak through Shalour CIty anyways, with hoods up and making sure Eevee and Glaceon are both secured inside poké balls. They’re not rare pokémon persay, but they are a dead giveaway of it being Chris and Darren. The Tower of Mastery is just north of Shalour City, and when it comes into view, they both have to stop to gawk at it.

It’s huge, and they can’t even see all the way to the top with the way the cloud surround it. Darren grabs Chris’ hand again, and it reminds him of all the times he’s done it so far in their journey. When he looks over at Darren, it feels like his heart is going to explode out of his chest.

“I love you,” he breathes out, “And I know it’s really, really too soon to be saying things like that but I had to tell you-mmph-”

Chris’ ramblings get muffled quickly by Darren’s lips. It’s a brief, but powerful kiss that sends him reeling, and his knees feel like they could give out at any second. They grab at each other, hands grasping at waists and shoulders with no rhyme or reason. 

When Darren manages to pull back, he’s grinning from ear to ear. “I love you too." 

Chris can only manage a bigger grin, pulling Darren back into another brief kiss. This time when they pull away and look back at the Tower, it’s with a newly sparked determination.

The entrance to the Tower is also left alone, but they can see a grunt standing just under the giant statue of Mega Lucario. The statue sits in the middle of the tower, and stairs going up to the top wind all away around the building in a spiral.

At the bottom of the statue, where the grunt is standing, is the door the Guru must have meant. The grunt startles as they approach, instantly recognizing them. His pokémon barely even get time to move though, before Glaceon and Eevee have them knocked out on the ground.

The pokémon grin at each other, as Chris approaches the door. He unclasps the necklace with the key, and unlocks the door.

Inside is a small room, with several shelves and a desk filled with notes. The desk has two small arm bands, each embedded with a colorful stone. And the shelves are stocked with larger stones in a variety of colors, all labeled with a pokémon name. There’s a note next to the arm bands, that reads ‘For you’ on it in scripted letters.

Chris picks up one of the bands, and slides it onto his left wrist. Darren follows his lead with the other arm band, before turning to the stones on the shelf. The first one he sees reads ‘Altaria’, and he picks it up. He skims the rest of the names only pausing to pick up the one above ‘Ampharos’ and ‘Mawile’ as well. Darren hands the stone for Mawile over to Chris, who rolls it gently in his hand.

Darren also notices there are two stones missing, for the legendary pokémon Latios and Latias. He shivers at what it could mean.

“So these are our Mega Stones, I’m assuming?” He wonders out loud.

“I think so." 

“I wish we didn’t have to test these out in like, the battles of our lives. I wish we had the time to figure this out against wild pokémon, or even each other…,” Chris trails off.

“We’ve made it through this much by the skin of our teeth, I’m sure Mega evolution won’t be a problem either.” Darren nudges him with his shoulder.

Chris nods, “I guess so.”

They exit the small room, and start making their way up the spiral staircase. Chris sticks close to the wall, terrified of the height as the go along.

They run into a few trainers that they’re able to beat in one shot, and even a trainer with two shadow pokémon they both manage to snag, a Leavanny and a Mamoswine, putting them at a perfect six each.

By the time they reach the top of the tower, it has started going dark. The wind brushes against them, making them both shudder from the cold. 

Darren glances around the rooftop of the tower, the only person is the Mirror B, the man they met so long ago in Lumiose City.

Mirror B turns around, looking at them both with a grin. “Well, you two really did make it all the way here without getting captured. But you’re too late.”

“What..?” Darren glares at him.

“We just finished it. Our two ultimate pokémon. The combined power of Mega evolutions with shadow pokémon,” he holds up a poké ball in each hand, “The ability to keep Mega evolutions, permanently.”

Mirror B throws both of the poké balls, and they materialize into Mega Latios and Mega Latias. Both pokémon are surrounded by the deep purple aura and Chris winces. They’ve take two legendary pokémon, and have done this to them?

The pokémon both cry out angrily, eyes gleaming yellow in the darkness.

Chris looks over at Darren, who nods at him. They both throw out a poké ball, letting Mawile and Altaria take the stage.

“Mawile, here!” Chris throws the Mega Stone they found early at the pokémon, who catches it happily. It looks down at the stone in awe. Darren does the same, throwing Altaria its own Mega Stone.

“Altaria, Mega evolve!” Darren holds up the hand with the armband on it, and the stone inside glows in time with Altaria’s stone. Soon, Altaria glows white, morphing into Mega Altaria. She caws gently, flapping her much larger wings.

“Mawile, you too!” Mawile’s stone glows with Chris’ arm band, and the pokémon evolves into Mega Mawile. She snaps her large jaws fiercely, eyeing up the opponent pokémon.

Mirror B huffs. “Well, its no fun if you have them too. No matter, mine are so much more powerful. Latios, Psychic! Latias, Mist Ball!”

“Altaria, hurry and use Hyper Voice on Latias first!” Altaria lets out a ringing noise straight towards Latias. The pokémon gets pushed backwards, and cries out at the loud ringing. The damage racks up on her, and by the time she’s over, Latias is exhausted.

Latios, however, manages to hit Mawile, making it glow blue and slamming her up into the air, and then straight back onto the ground. Mawile winces when it hits the ground, but manages to shake it off easily.

“Mawile, Play Rough!” Chris calls out. Mawile charges forward at Latios, and slams into him several times in a row. Latios gets sent flying backwards, skidding across the ground. It struggles, but eventually gets back in the air.

Mirror B looks on in realization. “Blasted Fairy types. Latias, Steel Wing. Latios, Earthquake!”

Latios cries out, before there’s a fissure shooting straight in the ground at Mawile. Mawile tries to jump out of the way, but it still hits her straight on. She gets sent flying backwards towards Chris.

“Mawile?” Chris calls out, concerned etched across his features, “You can do it Mawile!”

Mawile glances back at Chris, and Chris gives her an encouraging smile. She pushes herself up off the ground and stands, facing Latios again.

Latias screeches, covering its wings in a steel coating, before charging straight for Altaria.

“Altaria, dodge and use Dazzling Gleam!”

Altaria soars upwards, missing Latias’ attack by mere milliseconds. Altaria immediately turns back downwards, and sends a flash of white light at Latias. It hits dead on, and Latias cries out in pain for a moment, before collapsing onto the ground.

“What!” Mirror B screeches.

“Darren, the snag machine!”

“Right!” Darren pulls a ultra ball out of his pocket, clutching in the hand with the machine running down it. He tosses it at Latias. It goes inside the ball, wiggling back in forth a few times, before the light flashes and it still. “Got her!”

“Good, now Mawile, finish off Latios with another Play Rough!” 

“Ma!” The pokémon screeches back. She rushes forwards at Latios again, knocking against him several times. It sends him flying backwards, landing at Mirror B’s feat. Chris waste no time in chucking his own ultra ball at Latios, and it follows the same procedures. It shakes a few times, and for a tense moment, Chris think he might escape, but the ball ticks, indicating that Latios has been caught. 

“What…? I don’t understand!” Mirror B screeches as he slides to the ground. Darren and Chris return their respective pokémon, and walk up to the other man.

Darren smirks at the man, “Cipher is done. For good this time.”

Chris takes out his Holo Caster, and dials Sycamore. The Professor’s image appears, looking at Chris curiously. Chris can only send him a triumphant grin.

“We got him, Professor.”

x

The police arrive shortly after, and Sycamore appears with Lysandre and Diantha in tow, meeting them inside the Shalour City’s pokémon Center. 

Chris stares at Diantha in awe. It’s one thing to take down a criminal organization, it’s a whole different things to meet the current pokémon Champion and top ranked actress of their time. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he gives her an almost bow. 

She laughs at him. “No, the pleasure is all mine. What you two did was phenomenal.” 

“Well,” Darren grins, coming up from behind Chris and wrapping an arm around his waist, “I would agree with you. But to be honest I don’t even know what happened. Mega Latios and Mega Latias still should of kicked our ass.”

Diantha smiles at them. “Actually, well that may be true, what Mirror B created wasn’t a true Mega evolution. A true Mega evolution requires a strong connection between the trainer and their pokémon, that’s why we have found only a handful of Mega evolutions so far. Mirror B forced Mega evolution on Latios and Latias in a machine, meaning the bond that helps give Mega evolution it strength, didn’t exist.”

“Oh, well. You make it sound simple,” Darren drawls out, sarcasm hinting in his voice. 

She only shrugs at him. “It is.”

Professor Sycamore approaches their small group, leaving from where he was talking with the police. “It’s all good that you’re explaining the complication of Mega evolutions to them, but maybe you should tell them why you really came, Diantha?" 

“Right!” She grins brightly at them. Diantha reaches into her bag, and pulls out a handbook, giving it to Darren. “The gym leader of Lumiose City, Clemont, has decided he wants to go on his own pokémon journey, since he missed his from inheriting the gym at a young age. This mean we have an empty spot. Now, normally, we would hold a competition for the spot, but the League agreed to offer it to the two of you instead.”

“Both of us?” Chris breathes out.

“Yes,” she nods, “It’ll be much like Tate and Liza run their gym in Mossdeep City in Hoenn. Double battle only, they use two pokémon, you each use one. And no, you won’t have to conform to a specific type. You can challenge them a little.”

“You’re serious?” Darren croaks out, staring at the handbook he’s holding like someone just handed him the key to life. When Diantha nods, he lurches forward, hugging her for all he’s worth. She laughs softly, patting him on the back. 

“I think it’s Chris you should be hugging, not me. But uhm, I’ll let you two be. I know it’s been a rough couple of days for you. I’ll see you in Lumiose City soon to work out all of the details?” 

Darren can only nod at that, and he can’t be bothered to figure out when Diantha and Sycamore leave, before he’s throwing himself at Chris. He presses a kiss against his lips, and then trails them all the way down his neck, whispering _‘I love you_ ’ over and over again.

Chris grins, eventually tugging Darren back to kiss his mouth again. When they pull apart, Chris can see the tears waiting to fall from Darren’s eyes. He brushes them away with his thumb and then moves his hand to cup Darren’s cheek. He tilts Darren’s head so their eyes meet. 

“I love you too.” 

x

 


	5. Epilogue

The door’s open with a loud creak, revealing to the young trainer the inside of the Gym. It doesn’t look particularly impressive, just a large official sized field with the lines painted on it. The ceiling is massively high, and there’s a large Jumbotron up against one wall, and stadium seats on the other side. The other half of the field where the Gym Leader typically stands and the seats are cloaked in darkness. He huffs, walking up to the spot marked for challenging trainers to stand.  
“Hello?” He calls out. It echoes around the empty room

A light flicks on the other side of the stadium, revealing a man. The trainer things he might be in his mid-thirties, his hair is still jet black and curling, but there are laugh lines etched into his face.

Darren smiles at the kid. “Well, hello there. Are you here to challenge the Lumiose City gym?”

The trainer nods. “Yeah, would that be you?”

“Yes, well, me and my husband over there,” he nods towards the stadium seats, where a light now flicks on. Chris is standing in front of a group of younger kids, who all looked enraptured with him.

“All right, we’re about to have a Gym battle. So take notes, okay?” The kids all nod at him. “You don’t mind if they’re here, right?” He calls out to the trainer, who shakes his head no. “Great!” Chris hops down from the stadium seats, and walks over to stand beside Darren. 

“I’m Chris, and my husband and I, Darren, are Lumiose City’s Gym Leaders. We’re an educational Gym, so the children over there are students from the local school. The match will be a double battle, 2 v. 2, one pokémon from Darren and I, and two from you. Sound good?”

“Damn, it’s been years and you still look hot giving your opening speech,” Darren whispers next to him. Chris turns to glare at him, and Darren just smirks. He knows how to get his husband riled up.

The trainer takes two poké ball off his belt, and nods. “Sure!” 

“Alright, we’ll go first so that you make pick your pokémon accordingly,” Darren hums. He tosses his poké ball onto the field, and Chris does the same.

Flareon shakes her red and yellow coat, grinning at the challenging trainer. Greninja appears beside her, chattering happily.

The opposing trainer looks at the pokémon with interest. Chris and Darren are both aware that they’re not a conventional gym by any means. The trainer send out his two pokémon, revealing a Pikachu and Krokorok.

“Interesting choice,” Darren calls out, “Let’s begin, shall we? Flareon, go! Flare Blitz!”

“Greninja, water pulse!”

Flareon surrounds herself in a fierce blaze of fire, rushing diagonally towards Pikachu. Greninja shoots a pulsing streams of water at Krokorok.

“Dodge!” The trainer calls frantically. Pikachu manages to jump up quickly, just in time to miss Flareon’s attack. Krokorok, however, gets hit with the water. It gets pushed backwards, severely damaged.

“Pikachu, Shock Wave on Greninja! Krokorok, use Dig on Flareon!”

Krokorok jumps into the air, before hurling itself down into the ground. It raises the ground above where it moves, aiming for Flareon. Pikachu charges itself, before releasing a wave of electricity straight at Greninja.

“Rookie mistake.” Chris smiles. “Flareon, use Dig on Pikachu!” 

“Greninja,” Darren calls out, “Flood out Krokorok!”

“Wait what..” The trainer looks at them in confusion. Darren only grins wider. They have too much fun commanding each other’s pokémon and confusing their challengers.

Flareon digs underneath the ground, easily avoiding Krokorok and heading straight at Pikachu. She rushes up the surface underneath of it, sending Pikachu flying back towards its trainer. It lands on the ground harshly, and tries to stand up. However, its legs give out from underneath of it, and Pikachu is knocked out.

As the same time, Greninja rushes over to the hole Krokork dug into. He inhales deeply, before sending a jet of water into the hole. There’s a roar from under the ground, and then Krokork comes crashing through the surface a few feet away. It wobbles on its feet, before crashing into the ground.

“And the winner is, Chris and Darren of the Lumiose City Gym!” The Jumbotron blares for them.

“Oh,” The challenging trainer returns his pokémon in defeat, shoulder sagging. Darren jogs across the field to stand in front of him.

“Hey kid, don’t look so sad. You can come back in rechallenge us at any point, alright? And one day, I know you’re going to kick our asses,” he gives the kid a wink, which makes him smile. Darren waves to him as he leave the gym, letting the doors slam shut behind him. 

“Sometimes, I feel bad when we get against the challengers,” He sighs out, feeling Chris stepping up behind. Chris wraps an arm around his waist, and pulls him backwards. Darren turns so that they’re facing each other.

“Students,” Chris calls to the kids in the stand, “You’re dismissed for lunch. Get out of here,” he waves them off with a flourish of his hand. They quickly scramble out of the Gym, all too happy to go and eat.

“Alone at last?” Darren cocks his head, before brushing his lips against Chris’ neck. Chris hum in agreement, tilting his head back to give Darren an easier access. He slides a hand into the hairs at the back of Darren’s neck, tugging him even closer. There’s a pair of hands gripping his hips as well.

‘Sploosh.’

In a flash, they’re both soaked from head to toe with freezing cold water. Chris’ hair is hanging over his eyes, dripping onto the floor, and he blinks away some of the droplets from his eyelashes. Darren’s hair is clinging to his head, curls tumbling over his forehead. His bottom lip is jutted out, frowning. 

They both turn to see Greninja and Flareon looking sheepishly proud of themselves.

Goddamnit. Darren thinks. But when he turns back to Chris, he can see the corners of his mouth are tugging upwards. It only takes a few seconds before Chris loses it, laughing so hard he’s clutching at his side. 

Darren mutters, shivering from the water, “Why do you find this so funny?”

Chris pulls Darren back close to him, grinning. “I don’t know. You just look so ridiculous with your wet hair and pathetic sad eyes, not to mention your little pouty lip.”

“Hate you,” Darren whispers, trying to press his nose into Chris’ neck.

Chris just lets out another laugh, “Love you too honey.” 

He tugs back on Darren’s head so he can lean forward and slot their lips together, causing Darren to let out a soft moan. He returns his hands to Chris’ hips, and Chris slides his around Darren’s neck. It’s still just as amazing as the first time they did this, all that time ago. 

They pull back, lips smacking.

“I love you too,” Darren says.


	6. Pokédex/Index

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brief description of the pokémon mentioned in this fic, plus some of the objects from the game series for all of you who are not as familiar with them.  
> Link leads to their Bulbapedia page.
> 
> SPOILERS INCLUDED.

**Pokédex:**  
Pokemon listed in order of appearance.

**[Eevee](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Eevee_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ** _(Trainer: Darren)_ **:**  Normal type. The Evolution Pokémon. Eevee is a unique Pokémon that can adapt to its environment by changing its form and abilities when evolving.

[**Glaceon**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Glaceon_\(Pok%C3%A9mon\)) ( _Trainer: Chris_ ): Ice type. The Fresh Snow Pokémon and the evolved form of Eevee. Glaceon can freeze the fur on its body, and make it stick out like sharp needles.

[**Patrat**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Patrat_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Thug_ ): Normal type. Using food stored in cheek pouches, they can keep watch for days. They use their tails to communicate with others.

[**Bagon**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Bagon_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Thug_ ): Dragon type. Dreaming of one day flying, it practices by leaping off cliffs every day.

[**Flaaffy**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Flaaffy_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Thug/Darren_ ): Electric type. Its fleece quality changes to generate strong static electricity with a small amount of wool. The bare, slick parts of its hide are shielded against electricity.

[**Gulpin**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Gulpin_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Thug_ ): Poison type. This Pokémon's stomach fluid can even digest scrap iron. In one gulp, it can swallow something that is as large as itself.

[**Frogadier**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Frogadier_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Guard/Chris_ ): Water type. It can throw bubble-covered pebbles with precise control, hitting empty cans up to a hundred feet away.

[**Grimer**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Grimer_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Guard_ ): Posion type. Made of hardened sludge. It smells too putrid to touch. Even weeds won't grow in its path.

[**Celebi**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Celebi_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) _(Wild)_ : Grass/Psychic type. This Pokémon came from the future by crossing over time. It is thought that so long as Celebi appears, a bright and shining future awaits us.

[**Altaria**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Altaria_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Darren_ ): Dragon/Flying type. Altaria sings in a gorgeous soprano. Its wings are like cotton clouds. This Pokémon catches updrafts with its buoyant wings and soars way up into the wild blue yonder.  
(Mega Altaria)

[**Crobat**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Crobat_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Chris_ ): Posion/Flying type. It flies so silently through the dark on its four wings that it may not be noticed even when nearby.

[**Azumarill**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Azumarill_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Darren_ ): Water/Fairy type. Azumarill's long ears are indispensable sensors. By focusing its hearing, this Pokémon can identify what kinds of prey are around, even in rough and fast-running rivers.

[**Quilladin**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Quilladin_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Darren_ ): Grass type. They strengthen their lower bodies by running into one another. They are very kind and won't start fights.

[**Mawile**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Mawile_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Chris_ ): Steel/Fairy type. Mawile’s huge jaws are actually steel horns that have been transformed. Its docile-looking face serves to lull its foe into letting down its guard. When the foe least expects it, Mawile chomps it with its gaping jaws.  
(Mega Mawile)

[**Reuniclus**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Reuniclus_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Chris_ ): Psychic type. When Reuniclus shake hands, a network forms between their brains, increasing their psychic power.

[**Houndoom**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Houndoom_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Flare Admin_ ): Fire/Dark type. Long ago, people imagined its eerie howls to be the call of the grim reaper.

[**Zorua**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Zorua_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) _(Trainer: Lauren_ ): Dark type. It changes so it looks just like its foe, tricks it, and then uses that opportunity to flee.

[**Greninja**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Greninja_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Chris)_ : Water/Dark type. Evolves from Frogadier. It appears and vanishes with a ninja’s grace. It toys with its enemies using swift movements, while slicing them with throwing stars of sharpest water.

[**Ampharos**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Ampharos_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Darren_ ): Electric type. Evolves from Flaaffy. The tail's tip shines brightly and can be seen from far away. It acts as a beacon for lost people.

[**Leavanny**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Leavanny_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Chris_ ): Bug/Grass type. Upon finding a small Pokémon, it weaves clothing for it from leaves by using the sticky silk secreted from its mouth.

[**Mamoswine** ](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Mamoswine_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29)_(Trainer: Darren_ ): Ground/Ice type. It flourished worldwide during the ice age but its population declined when the masses of ice began to dwindle.

[**Latios** ](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Latios_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29)( _Trainer: Mirror B/Chris_ ): Psychic/Dragon type. A highly intelligent Pokémon. By folding back its wings in flight, it can overtake jet planes.  
[ **(Mega Latios)**](http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/thumb/a/a0/381Latios-Mega.png/600px-381Latios-Mega.png)

[**Latias**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Latias_\(Pok%C3%A9mon\)) ( _Trainer: Mirror B/Darren_ ): Psychic/Dragon type. Its body is covered in a down that can refract light in such a way that it becomes invisible.  
[ **(Mega Latias)**](http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/thumb/0/0f/380Latias-Mega.png/600px-380Latias-Mega.png)

[ **Flareon** ](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Flareon_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Darren_ ): Fire type. Evolves from Eevee. Flareon's fluffy fur has a functional purpose - it releases heat into the air so that its body does not get excessively hot. This Pokémon's body temperature can rise to a maximum of 1,650 degrees F.

[**Pikachu**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pikachu_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Challenger_ ): Electric type. Whenever Pikachu comes across something new, it blasts it with a jolt of electricity. If you come across a blackened berry, it's evidence that this Pokémon mistook the intensity of its charge.

[**Krokorok**](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Krokorok_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29) ( _Trainer: Challenger)_ : Ground/Dark type. Protected by thin membranes, their eyes can see even in the dead of night. They live in groups of a few individuals.

 

**Characters:**

Character from the Pokémon games.

**[Folly](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Folly) **

**[Trudley](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Trudly) **

**[Mirror B](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Miror_B.) **

**[Professor Sycamore](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Professor_Sycamore) **

**[Lysandre](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Lysandre) **

**[Mega Evolution Guru](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Gurkinn) **

**[Diantha](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Diantha) **

 

**Objects/Features**

[ **Poké Puffs** ](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon-Amie) _(Scroll down)_

[ **Pokédex** ](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9dex)

[ **Shadow Pokémon** ](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Shadow_Pok%C3%A9mon)

[ **Snag Machine** ](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Snag_Machine)

[ **Holo Caster** ](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Holo_Caster)


End file.
